Larry King feeling 'hopeful' as he recovers from stroke

Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Larry King is feeling "hopeful" as he continues to recover from a massive stroke.

The longtime talk show host, 86, gave an update on his health in an interview with People published Wednesday after having a near-fatal stroke in March 2019.

"It's been a rough year," King said. "And I don't have any idea of what 2020 is going to be like. But I can still work and I can watch my kids grow up. I feel positive -- and hopeful."

King said he doesn't remember much of the stroke and its aftermath.

"I was driving to the doctor's office, and I don't remember anything after that," he said. "I woke up in intensive care and I had tubes in me. They told my family I was going to die."

King, who filed for divorce from his seventh wife, Shawn King, in August, has two sons with Shawn King and three other children.

King has experienced drop foot, or weakness in his left foot, since his stroke, and uses a wheelchair and walker. He attends physical therapy for his foot three-to-four days a week.

"I get mad," King said. "When I have to be helped into a chair it's like, 'Come on.' But I try to rely on my sense of humor. I think you live longer if you laugh a lot."

"I have less of a fear of dying now," he added. "I'm 86 and it is what it is. I just want to keep working until the end. I'd like to die at work -- I'll retire right there!"

King went public about his stroke in an interview with Extra in November. He said he was in a coma for "a couple weeks" after the incident.

"My head doctor said I have an 'incomparable spirit,'" King said.

King later said in an interview with Frank Buckley for KTLA5 that he considered suicide after his stroke.

"I didn't want to live dependent on others," he recalled.

King has hosted the Ora TV talk show Larry King Now since 2012.