Larry King Was Hospitalized Last Week Following Heart Condition

Larry King - Larry King Now

This past week, Larry King suffered a serious health scare. There were news reports coming out of the woodwork claiming that the well-known television personality suffered a major heart attack, and that he was rushed to the hospital due to this medical emergency. In a statement released on Monday, however, King's publicity team attempted to clarify this news, and claimed that his medical condition wasn't quite as severe as the news made it seem. They believe he's on the road to recovery; King is said to be on the mend shortly following a procedure.

As it was reported by Entertainment Tonight, Larry King was sent to the hospital on Thursday. While it was previously reported to be a heart attack and/or a cardiac arrest, this statement from his team claims that those reports were falsified or exaggerated. In a statement released on his Twitter page, King's team clarified what happened, claiming that he "experienced angina" shortly before he was set to receive an angioplasty. But King is reportedly "recuperating" at this point in time.

On the morning of Thursday, April 23rd, Larry King was scheduled for an angioplasty. Before his scheduled procedure, he experienced angina and went to the hospital early to be examined. His doctor successfully performed the angioplasty and inserted stents to reopen the previous bypass from 1987. He has been recuperating in the hospital and is scheduled to be released soon. His doctors expect him to make a full recovery. To be clear, and contrary to published reports, his doctors say he did not have a heart attack and he did not go into cardiac arrest.

Furthermore, the statement notes that Larry King is currently in "good spirits," despite this medical scare, and he will be expected to not only recover shortly but return to work on his TV programs. Larry King has always been a workaholic, it would seem — at least, from an outsider perspective. So, that should come as no surprise to his viewers. However, it is comforting to know that the legendary television figure is doing well enough to consider going back to work so quickly. There are few 85-year-old folks in this world who work as hard as Larry King does.

The statement released also made sure to note that King is grateful for everyone's well-wishes, and let fans know that he doesn't plan on any extended time off after his procedure:

Larry is in good spirits and thanks everyone for their concern. He's expected to be back at work on his shows, Larry King Now and PoliticKING with Larry King, soon.

As it was noted in the quote, Larry King has fallen ill from a heart attack before. It was back in 1987, and he noted in his 2004 book, Taking on Heart Disease, that he wasn't the pinnacle of health at the time, but he went through a quintuple-bypass surgery and eventually recovered. Additionally, in 2017, King announced that he had lung cancer, and he also underwent surgery to remove the upper lobe and lymph node. Shockingly, Larry King returned to work only two weeks after the fact. Therefore, it's safe to say that King doesn't necessarily like to sit back and take things easily. He's a working man, and we should expect to see Larry King back on TV soon enough.

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Will Ashton

Will is an entertainment writer based in Pittsburgh, PA. His writing can also be found in The Playlist, Cut Print Film, We Got This Covered, The Young Folks, Slate and other outlets. He also co-hosts the weekly film/TV podcast Cinemaholics with Jon Negroni and he likes to think he's a professional Garfield enthusiast.