EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Larry King Helped Wife's Lover With Acting Career
April 20 2010, Published 10:00 a.m. ET
Hector Penate, the baseball coach who had an affair with Larry King’s wife, Shawn, was a wannabe actor who was getting help with his career from both Larry and Shawn, a source close to him tells RadarOnline.com exclusively.
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Also, according to the source, Penate grew extremely close to the family, with the children “idolizing” him and the Kings taking him everywhere with them, including on shopping trips and amusement park visits.
But as Penate grew close to the family, he was having an affair with Shawn. The source tells RadarOnline.com that Penate was fiercely ambitious when it came to his dreams of an acting career, even going so far as to sleep in his car while he made the rounds of Hollywood agents, waiting for his big break.
“I had the sense that he was willing to do whatever it took for him to be an actor.,” the source says.
Penate confirmed the affair with Shawn King in an new interview with Entertainment Tonight. When asked if Shawn had discussed divorcing Larry, he answered, “All the time...Don’t worry he’s going to die soon.”
But on the outside, everything appeared fine. “The family was very nice to him, both Mr. King and Shawn, and the kids loved him to death,” the source close to Penate told RadarOnline.com. "You know, they were a happy family, they would take him shopping with them and when the kids went to amusement parks he went along."
Shawn was attempting to hook up Hector with her husband’s agent and Larry was also helping, the source says, adding: “Larry was more concerned with his kids’ baseball careers, you know, upcoming baseball careers for his kids, so he was willing to help out Hector, to keep him happy.
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“He was with the family I would probably say almost every day. But I think it was difficult for him, Shawn did have her issues with dependency on medication. She was having her issues - headaches, she had a nurse with her all the time. So he would mention that to me, but I think she was going through her own depression or her own issues.” Shawn eventually checked into rehab for a prescription pill dependency.
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