This Is What Larry King Wants To Happen To His Body After He Dies

Television icon Larry King was diagnosed with coronavirus in December 2020. As a result of his diagnosis, King has been in an isolated room at a hospital in Los Angeles. At 87, the legendary host's advanced age puts him in the high-risk category in regard to COVID-19. In addition to his age, King has type 2 diabetes and has survived a heart attack and a bypass surgery in the not-to-distant past (via Diabetes.co.uk).

While King will live on forever in the hearts and minds of his fans, unfortunately, the reality is that no one is immortal. During a 2011 TV special, Larry King: Dinner With King, he admitted that his "biggest fear is death, because I don't think I'm going anywhere," according to The Hollywood Reporter. He even revealed, "I wanna be frozen, on the hope that they'll find whatever I died of and they'll bring me back." At the time, it was unclear if he was making a flippant remark or if he intended to follow through on those plans, but that was not the only time he expressed an interest in having his body frozen after death.

In 2015, Larry King told The Hill, "I think I'd like to be frozen and that would be the only hope that I could come back." In response to his now-estranged wife Shawn Southwick King, who asked, "What if you come back 200 years from now? You won't know anybody," the CNN alum replied, "I'll make new friends." The former Larry King Live host also shared, "My father died when he was 46. I've had a heart attack, had heart surgery. I've gone through a lot, yet I feel wonderful. But the thought of not existing terrifies me."

He said he does not "want to be gone" partly because he still wants to "know what's going on in the world." He said that having his body frozen is "very logical" to him. King added, "It's better than embalming and then being put in the ground. Or being burned. Come on, ew." Clearly, he has looked into the concept, sharing, "You put it in your insurance policy. It costs about $130,000, so if you have enough insurance that your family's going to be alright, your insurance company covers it." In 2015, he told The New York Times that knowing his body will be frozen gives him a sense of hope, remarking that "other people have no hope." 

King said his service would be at a synagogue and predicted, "I think Clinton might speak." Hopefully, the world will not find out if his predictions will come true for a long time.