HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Larry King will end his CNN talk show after 25 years in the fall, the broadcasting legend announced Tuesday.
"I want to share some personal news with you," began the 67-year-old television host in a statement posted on his CNN blog. "25 years ago, I sat across this table from New York Governor Mario Cuomo for the first broadcast of Larry King Live. Now, decades later, I talked to the guys here at CNN and I told them I would like to end Larry King Live, the nightly show, this fall and CNN has graciously accepted, giving me more time for my wife and I to get to the kids' little league games."
"I'm incredibly proud that we recently made the Guinness Book of World Records for having the longest running show with the same host in the same time slot. With this chapter closing I'm looking forward to the future and what my next chapter will bring, but for now it's time to hang up my nightly suspenders."
The Brooklyn native said he still plans to host specials on major national and international subjects.
King has interviewed an estimated 50,000 people during his 53-year broadcasting career. His guests have included the likes of Marlon Brando, Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev, Paul McCartney, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Madonna and Martin Luther King, Jr.
The announcement comes less than three months after King's personal life made tabloid headlines. He and his eighth wife, Shawn Southwick-King, filed for divorce in April, but reconciled weeks later.
King and Southwick married in 1997. They have two sons together, Chance, 11, and Cannon, 10. She also has an older son, Danny, from a previous marriage.
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