Pop-Ed: Why I Feel Badly About the Larry King Split

By Joel Keller Posted Apr 19th 2010 05:00PM

Larry King and Shawn Southwick-King in March 2010

Larry King is not the world's most virtuous man. This is a guy who, in his Miami radio days, was arrested for grand larceny and eventually pleaded no contest to charges that he passed bad checks. He's embellished stories to the point that he probably really believes he grew up with Sandy Koufax, even though Koufax himself denies it.

And, of course, he's been married eight times to seven different women. His latest marriage, to the former Shawn Southwick, is now heading toward divorce, with allegations surfacing that King had an affair with his wife's younger sister.

Despite all of this, though, I still feel bad for the guy -- mainly because at 76, it seemed that he was finally getting it right.

King's 12-year marriage to Southwick was the longest-lasting of all of his marriages. Sure, at first, it did seem that Southwick was just the latest in a long line of blonde, much-younger women, but things quickly became far more serious.

He settled into a nice domestic rhythm with Shawn -- they had a couple of kids, he promoted her country music career and they showed up at events as one happy -- if odd-looking -- family.

Despite the fact that King showed up at events like the Kids' Choice Awards (right) looking like a grandfather who was trying too hard to be "cool," at least King looked happy to be there. It was a small comfort to know that even someone who has had as tumultuous a life as King could settle into domestic bliss, albeit very late in life. It looked like he was ready to live out his days with his wife and young children, writing a happy ending to his life story.

But, the libido wants what the libido wants, and it seems that King just doesn't have the impulse control that most men have. Combine that with what seems to be a romantic streak a mile wide, and you get a really sad formula seen in most serial marriers.

A number of years ago, Psychology Today reported that 75% of Americans that get divorced get remarried, with a failure rate that's even greater than marriages between first-timers. Among the reasons cited: many people look for the same type of person every time, and they don't learn from their previous relationship mistakes.

In this latest case, not only did King allegedly go for a much-younger blonde, it appears he might not have bothered to search outside of his wife's family for one. That's a twisted sort of optimism that just makes a person shake his head thinking about it.

At a certain point, when you see someone as high-profile as King fail at love time and again, mostly through his own doing, you just have to stop making fun of him and start feeling sorry for him. That is, unless you buy into Nathan Lane's theory, which he floated on 'Live With Regis and Kelly' last week: "He has to do that [sleep with different women]. He has to drink their blood so he can keep going and marry more women."

Then it becomes funny again.

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Tags: divorce, larry king, remarriage, shawn king, shawn southwick

Comments

(4)

Monday 19 April

By Janine

High Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

I still think he's just a disgusting dirty old man, marrying young broads so he can feel young again-- sorry. it doesnt work!!

Tuesday 20 April

By Rayhumiston@aol.com

Vote down Vote up Report this

You feel "bad." Stupid.

By chip

Learn how to write, Joel. It's "I feel bad," not "I feel badly." "To feel" is a linking verb. You and your editor should both have taken the time to look it up before publishing. C-.

Wednesday 21 April

By iheartpoco

If you feel badly, it means your fingers are numb or something!! Dude, you are a PROFESSIONAL WRITER! C'mon...

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