Broadcasting legend Larry King has been hospitalized in Los Angeles with COVID-19 for about 10 days, a source close to the family told NBC News.
King, 87, was in the intensive care unit at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center before being removed on Sunday, according to the source.
The famous interviewer appeared smiling and healthy with his children as recently as Thanksgiving. However, his age and preexisting medical conditions like Type 2 diabetes put him at a higher risk for COVID-19 complications.
King believes he contracted the virus from a health care worker who was in his home, the source said. One of his sons also tested positive for the virus.
The broadcaster has received an outpouring of support from friends, fans and colleagues as he continues his recovery.
"Thinking of my dear friend Larry King and rooting for him," actor Lynda Carter tweeted on Saturday. "PLEASE wear a mask and do your best to help stop the spread. We can protect one another if we all do our part here."
"Hang tough, Larry. May the Force be with you," singer Nancy Sinatra tweeted.
"Get well Larry, I’m pulling for The King," former CNN colleague Christiane Amanpour tweeted.
King, who still hosts a pair of digital talk shows on Ora.Tv and Hulu after retiring from CNN in 2010, has a history of overcoming health issues. He was most recently hospitalized in November with a blood flow issue, according to The New York Post.
He also has endured heart disease, lung cancer, prostate cancer, and a near-fatal stroke in 2019 that left in him a coma for weeks.
King told Los Angeles station KTLA on its Frank Buckley Interviews program in June that his health problems had him contemplating taking his own life.
"I thought I was just going to bite the bullet," King said. "I didn’t want to live this way. I didn’t want to live dependent on others."
He said his son Chance, 20, talked him out of it.
"He started to cry, and I don't see him cry since he was 3 years old," King told KTLA. "And he said, 'You can't leave us, you can't leave us,' and I changed that minute. I wanted to get better not to be on the air, but for the kids."
King also endured the deaths of two of his five children within weeks of each other this past summer when his son Andy, 65, suffered a fatal heart attack in July, and his only daughter, Chaia, died in August at 51 after being diagnosed with lung cancer.