Making A Chance

WE could debate long into the night how 72-yar-old Larry King, host of Larry King Live, came to call his seven-year-old son Chance.

And, perhaps it was the good fortune of that birth that prompted Larry’s next son to be given the thrusting and firing-on-all-cylinders name Cannon.

But instead of that we take a look around Larry’s Californian mansion. And we do so in the company of Shawn Southwick-King, six-times married Larry’s fifth wife (he committed himself to one woman twice). As a friend of Larry’s once quipped: “He’s been married so often, he has rice scars!”

But Larry can explain. “I’ve loved different people at different times. The girl I liked at 20 was not the girl I liked at 30.” Indeed, she was ten years older.

And before we go on, we note that Shawn is 47 years old. When Larry was 20, Shawn wasn’t born. And when he was 30, Shawn was five.

It might be argued that Larry likes young things. But not when you see his house which seems to have been designed by Louis 16th’s maiden aunt.

The main entertaining room is covered in a patina of old gold. The walls are golden beige, a kind of gilded magnolia. The sofa is couched in golden velour. The wooden floors are golden. A gold chandelier hangs from the ceiling above an incidental chair, also in gold.

Above a bureau edged with gold, is a picture of Chance and Cannon, the golden children. Their picture secured for posterity within a golden frame.

Shawn tells us that she wanted “a home made for jumping and playing and entertaining is – not a museum.”

And she didn’t do it alone. Shawn enlisted the help of her brother Paul, who just so happens to be an interior designer. And Paul’s wife Suzanne also helped.

It’s a collaborative effort. Not that Larry needs help. Not a chance…

Posted: 29th, September 2006 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink