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People

Larry King's Daughter Chaia and Son Andy Die Within Weeks of Each Other

Robyn Merrett
Updated
2 min read

Two of Larry King's children have died.

A source tells PEOPLE King's son Andy King died suddenly last week and his daughter Chaia died of lung cancer. Page Six reported that Chaia died on Thursday. She was 51 and her brother Andy was 65.

A rep for King, 86, did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.

Andy's cause of death is not immediately clear and King has not yet spoken out about the news.

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King shared Chaia with ex-wife Alene Akins. He adopted Andy, Akins' son from a previous relationship, after the two got married.

Akins and King first wed in 1961 and the pair split in 1963. They got back together in 1967 only to divorce again in 1972.

King is also father to son Larry King Jr. with ex-wife Annette Kaye and sons Cannon and Chance King with ex-wife Shawn King.

The deaths of Andy and Chaia come following a challenging year for the legendary television host.

RELATED: Larry King Opens Up About His Near-Fatal Stroke: 'They Told My Family I Was Going to Die'

King suffered from a near-fatal stroke in May and three months later he filed for divorce from Shawn after 22 years together.

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“I’m sorry about the marriage,” King told PEOPLE at the time. “I’ll always care for my wife. But it just hit a point where we didn’t get along.”

When King, who hosts Ora TV’s Larry King Now, wed singer Southwick King, now 60, in 1997, he had already been divorced seven times.

Of his health issues, King told PEOPLE in February, "It's been a rough year."

King's stroke came just weeks after he had heart surgery to place a stent (he had a heart attack in 1987).

“I don’t have any idea of what 2020 is going to be like. But I can still work and I can watch my kids grow up. I feel positive — and hopeful," King told PEOPLE at the time.

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RELATED: Larry King Discusses His Divorce from Ex-Wife Shawn: 'It Hit a Point Where We Didn't Get Along'

King, who hosts Ora TV’s Larry King Now, has little memory of the stroke and its immediate aftermath, recalling, “I was driving to the doctor’s office, and I don’t remember anything after that. I woke up in intensive care and I had tubes in me. They told my family I was going to die.”

Shaken, King panicked. “When I came out of [the stroke] and learned what had happened, I had an instant thought and I said to my son, [Chance, 20], ‘I want to die,’ ” said King. “But that was a passing thing. I never had that thought again, or before. And Chance kept me going. He said, ‘You can’t go, you’re not going to go,’ and so I came home.”

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