Entertainment
Larry King’s cause of death aged 87 confirmed as sepsis
Larry King’s immediate cause of death was sepsis.
The broadcasting legend died on January 23 at the age of 87, weeks after contracting Covid-19.
However, his death certificate has confirmed he was not killed by the virus.
According to People, who obtained the death certificate, King’s immediate cause of death was sepsis.
The star had two underlying conditions that led to sepsis; acute hypoxic respiratory failure – meaning he did not have enough oxygen in his blood – and end stage renal disease, also known as kidney failure.
King’s estranged wife Shawn Southwick King had previously said that coronavirus wasn’t the cause of King’s death.
She told Entertainment Tonight: ‘He was finally ready to go, I will tell you that. You know, he never wanted to go, but his sweet little body was just, it had just been hit so many times with so many things, and once we heard the word COVID, all of our hearts just sunk.
‘But he beat it, you know, he beat it, but it did take its toll, and then the unrelated infection finally is what took him, but boy, he was not gonna go down easily.’
King had been admitted to hospital in late December after testing positive for Covid-19, and spent time in intensive care
However, he had been moved out of the ICU in Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, and was breathing without the help of a ventilator.
The Larry King Live host had suffered many health issues throughout his life, which put him at high risk of the virus.
He suffered a heart attack in 1987, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1999 and lung cancer in 2017, and suffered a near-fatal stroke in March 2019.
King was in a coma following the stroke, and also underwent heart surgery afterwards to replace a stent.
The chat show host was laid to rest on January 28 in a small ceremony attended by his family, and his loved ones wore his signature suspenders as a tribute.
Shawn said: ‘We laid him to rest this morning. And in the Jewish faith, they do it very quickly, so you almost don’t have time to, for me, to process.
‘I’m still processing. And as are the boys, the whole family is just, you know, yeah.
‘We all, it was just family, we wore Larry’s suspenders, every one of us. And it was a beautiful, loving … just perfect, just perfect. It was family. There was no showbiz, no, none of that.’
King is survived by his sons Larry Jr, 59, from his marriage to Annette Kaye, and Chance, 21, and Cannon, 20, from his marriage to Shawn.
Two of his children, Andy, 65, and Chaia, 51, died within weeks of each other in 2020 from a heart attack and lung cancer respectively.
