Chi-Ching! Let that cash register ring: Larry King and wife Shawn Southwick – who both filed for divorce on Wednesday – did sign a prenupital agreement when they wed in a Los Angeles hospital room almost 13 years ago, which means the bespectacled host of CNN’s Larry King Live is going to lose some mayjah moolah if he wants to ditch the old ball and chain.
“She is a tall, good-looking blonde and that pretty much explains it,” a source says of why the 76-year-old didn’t protect his empire before tying the knot for the eighth time.
Larry’s net worth is an estimated $144 million and his current CNN contract is reportedly worth $56 million over 4 years. Did we mention that The Kings are residents of California: a community property state where all monies earned during a marriage are split right down the middle?
Shawn is the mother of Larry’s two youngest sons Chance and Cannon and his seventh wife (Arlene Atkins married King twice in the 1960s). Perhaps the most explosive allegation in Southwick’s divorce filing is the former singer’s assertion that the TV titan has been secretly sleeping with her younger sister Shannon Engemann.
The pair reportedly fought bitterly for years over Shawn’s belief that King was having an affair with Shannon, 46.
King spent $1 million on Engemann and lavished her with gifts, including a $160,000 car.
Both Engemann and King deny the affair allegations.