Larry King divorce: His alleged affair with her sister, hers with son's coach

The rumors about talk show host Larry King having an affair with his wife Shawn Southwick King's sister have been floating around Hollywood for several years.

"But the rumors started to gain more strength in the past six months," according to The Dish Rag's exclusive source, a longtime friend of Shawn's.

TMZ reports that Shawn discovered her husband had bought expensive gifts for her lookalike sis, Shannon Engemann, like a $160,000 car and lots of Cartier jewelry.

Larry used his credit card and when Shawn reportedly saw the statements, she saw a Cartier diamond necklace, and told a friend, "He never gave me a diamond necklace."

For her part, Shannon says Larry has been very generous to the whole family and denies the affair to Access Hollywood.
 
Larry has filed divorce papers seeking shared custody of their two sons, Cannon, 9, and Chance, 11, and  asks the court to deny his wife spousal support. Shawn wants sole custody of the kids, visitation for Larry, plus, natch, spousal support.

Our source says that the marriage was a mismatch from the beginning and that there were clearly problems early on. "Shawn is a much softer, kinder person than Larry is," the close friend of Shawn's tells The Dish Rag exclusively. "She's also a singer and recently recorded a song with Willie Nelson that should be out soon." 

There were also religious differences: "She's  a Mormon and she's best friends with Marie Osmond and Larry, well, Larry's Larry."

Reports of his being verbally abusive and/or dismissive of her in public were also raft."He was always insulting her and making fun of her at events," a source says."She kept a smile on her face in public but you could tell it hurt."

Friends also tell TMZ there were also physical fights. One friend recalls an incident outside of Nate 'n Al in Beverly Hills a year and a half ago where the couple was "punching each other."

It's not like Shawn was squeaky clean either. Her alleged baseball coach lover Hector Penate admitted on video to TMZ that "one thing led to another" and "mistakes were made."

Several years ago Larry made nice by  transferring 3 homes -- including the one in Beverly Hills -- into Shawn's name to show his commitment to her.

Now she's asking for those houses. And although California is a no-fault divorce state, there's a possibility these embarrassing affair rumors could impact the divorce settlement.

"These women who marry wealthy, powerful Hollywood men with roving eyes make a deal with the devil," says our source.

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