Longtime CNN talk-show host Larry King has filed for divorce from his eighth wife, Utahn Shawn Engemann Southwick King.
Larry King, 85, filed the divorce petition in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday, citing irreconcilable differences. The couple married in 1997 in a hospital room — Larry King was about to undergo heart surgery — and are the parents of 19- and 20-year-old sons.
The Kings long maintained a home in Provo, regularly attending Timpview High football games when Shawn King’s son from her first marriage, Danny Southwick, was a star quarterback for the Thunderbirds in the late ’90s. Shawn King’s brother, Bret Engemann, also starred at Timpview before going on to quarterback at Brigham Young University (1999-2000, 2002).
After a long career in radio, Larry King hosted the five-nights-a-week “Larry King Live” on CNN from 1985-2010. Before marrying Shawn King, he wed eight times to seven women, and all his marriages ended in divorce or annulment.
Shawn King, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, began singing and acting when she was a child. Her father, Karl Engemann, was an executive at Capitol Records and was Marie Osmond’s manager for 35 years. He also managed Larry King.
She made guest appearances in myriad TV shows, and hosted “Hollywood Insider” on the USA Network from 1990-96.
Larry King previously filed for divorce from Shawn King in 2010 amid reports of infidelity, but the couple reconciled.
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