How Did Larry King's Kids Die? Tragic Details About Deaths Of Chaia And Andy King Within Weeks Of Each Other
Such a terrible tragedy.
Sam Aronov / Shutterstock How did Larry King's kids die?
It's unthinkable to imagine the loss of one child — but to lose two children within a month of each other is just beyond tragic.
But that's exactly what happened to legendary talk show host Larry King, who lost two of his children — a son and a daughter — within 30 days of each other. The depths of the tragedy is too unspeakable to even fathom, so at this point, all we can do is offer him our sincerest thoughts and sympathies during what is, undoubtedly, a difficult time.
Nevertheless, it's worth taking a look into how something like this could possibly happen.
Who are Larry King's children?
Larry King has been married a total of five times. Thanks to those five marriages, he has five children — Andy King, Larry King Jr., Chaia King, Chance Armstrong King, and Cannon Edward King. The two children of Larry King's that died are Andy and Chaia King.
Who is Chaia King and Andy King's mother?
Chaia King was born in 1969, and is the daughter of Larry King's third wife, Alene Akins, who was a Playboy bunny in her younger years. But here's where it gets a bit confusing: Akins and Larry King were first married in 1961 and in 1962, the couple adopted Andy King, who was Atkins' son from a previous relationship. In 1963, Larry King and Alene Akins divorced. Then, later in 1963, Larry King married his fourth wife, Mary Francis "Mickey" Stuphin, who would go on to divorce him shortly thereafter. At that point, Larry King remarried Alene Akins — thus making her his fifth wife, as well as his third — in 1969, when she gave birth to their daughter, Chaia. Akins and Larry King would ultimately divorce in 1972.
How did Andy King die?
On July 28, 2020, Andy King died suddenly. He was 65 years old. Though his official cause of death hasn't been released, his family believes that Andy King may have died of a heart attack. Andy King was based in Florida, and thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, Larry King was unable to attend his funeral. Larry King's granddaughter exclusively revealed that her grandfather had to watch Andy King's burial from a live-stream.
Larry King wrote a book with Chaia King in 1997.
In 1997, Larry and Chaia King teamed up to write a book called Daddy Day, Daughter Day, which was released on Dove Books. It was a children's book that told the true story of King's divorce from Akins, and taught children how to process parental divorce on their own terms.
How did Chaia King die?
On Wednesday, August 19, 2020, Chaia King passed away after a long battle with lung cancer. Larry King's daughter Jillian revealed the details exclusively. "She loved animals, she loved to travel, she loved people. She had a very strong faith belief. She was close to Larry. Chaia had been battling cancer for a while. It was just her time, I guess," she said.
Andy and Chaia King's mother, Alene Akins, died in 2017.
On February 3, 2017, Akins died. Though her cause of death wasn't revealed at the time, Larry King paid tribute to her in a tweet, which you can see below.
Our thoughts are with Larry King and his family during this difficult time.
Bernadette Giacomazzo is a New York City-based editor, writer, and photographer whose work has appeared in People, Teen Vogue, Us Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, and more.