Larry King, Tennis Promoter and Billie Jean's Former Husband, Dies at 81

Sad to hear about the death of Larry King, the dreamy All-American boy who helped build women's tennis during his 22-year marriage to Billie Jean King and then stood by her when her lesbian affair was revealed. He was 81 and died following an unspecified illness.

His tennis legend ex, who remained a lifelong friend and was godmother to his children from a second marriage, shared the news on social media, writing: 

Larry was one of the unsung heroes in the establishment of women’s professional tennis in the early 1970s.

Larry and I met at Cal State LA, where Larry opened my eyes to feminism. We were married for 22 years and in business together for decades. He was involved behind the scenes when the Original 9 signed our one dollar contracts, and he and I co-owned several tournaments on the Virginia Slims Tour.

He was integral and did much of the important legal work to establish the Women’s Tennis Association and the historic Battle of the Sexes match in 1973; and the Women’s Sports Foundation and womenSports magazine in 1974. He also was a co-founder of World TeamTennis.

Larry’s intelligence, love, commitment, and humor helped me navigate my career for more than 20 years.

Ilana, my wife and business partner, and I are deeply saddened by Larry’s passing and we extend our deepest condolences to his wife, Nancy, and their children - our godchildren - Sky (his wife Caroline and daughter Athena) and Katie.

In the documentary "Give Me the Ball!," which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival but still hasn't made its way to me, People magazine reported that Larry revealed that he was unaware of Billie Jean’s relationship with Los Angeles hairdresser Marilyn Barnett until shortly before it became front-page news in 1981, when Barnett sued the tennis legend for palimony and publicly outed her. At the time, Larry says he and Billie Jean had “an open kind of relationship.” 

“I didn’t know that this was going on,” Larry says in the film. “Billie Jean never mentioned it to me until the day before it hit the press.”

Billie Jean, who married him in 1965, says her sexuality wasn’t something she understood at the time. “I didn’t have much experience with sex at all or anything. One girl kissed me in college. That was it,” she explains in the documentary. 

“Everybody thinks I was hanging with girls. I wasn’t at all. We had a great time, fell in love. I thought he was the one.… Larry was different from other guys. He was a feminist.”

Larry, who says in the documentary that he “thought she was the cat’s meow” when he first met Billie Jean, says that while he supported her career, it ultimately took a toll on their relationship. 

“Billie Jean changed women’s tennis. And she wanted to change the world,” he said. “I tried to fit into that plan, but it was more the life that Billie Jean wanted. It wasn’t the life I wanted.”

Billie Jean added: “He wanted us to have children and everything, but I started to realize something isn’t right.”

After an abortion that was made public by Larry -- “I wasn’t gonna tell anybody,” Billie Jean said -- the early '70s were “really bad” for the couple, eventually leading to discussions about divorce. 

“I thought when we got married forever, it was forever,” Larry said. “I considered the divorce stuff to be more nonsense than reality.”

“It wasn’t right for Larry and I to stay married,” Billie Jean added. “I didn’t know what I was doing. I hadn’t figured out who I was, and he shouldn’t have been suffering through that either. I kept pleading with him to divorce me, and he wouldn’t do it. It was all about me; it wasn’t about him. I was the one having challenges. I was so confused.”

Despite having an open relationship by the time Billie Jean began her secret romance with Barnett, Larry said he didn’t view the hairdresser as a serious threat. 

“I didn’t really look at Marilyn Barnett as a real threat,” he said. “It would have bothered me a lot more if she had male friends, but it didn’t bother me that she had female friends because I didn’t really look like I was competing with them.”

Larry stood by Billie Jean’s side during the infamous press conference where she admitted to the affair -- which was the moment I first figured out what I "was" -- and remained close after their divorce in 1987. (Larry has been married to Nancy King since 1990.) 

Billie Jean -- who technically did not officially come out until an Advocate magazine article in 1998(!) and married former tennis player Ilana Kloss in 2018 -- says everyone involved eventually found happiness. 

“Larry and I, we’re still friends,” she said. “[He and Nancy] have two children. We’re the godmothers. Ilana and I are so happy now.”

Marilyn Barnett, however, died by suicide on May 5, 1997, at the age of 49, having previously become a paraplegic in October 1980 after "falling" 30 feet from the balcony of the Kings' Malibu beach house, which local fire department logs from the time noted as a "possible suicide attempt."

Now confined to a wheelchair and unable to work to support herself, Barnett filed her high-profile palimony lawsuit six months after the incident. Barnett’s legal move failed, resulting in no payout, no property rights and an immediate eviction order. The court rejected claims to the Malibu home, with the judge criticizing Barnett for attempting to extort money by threatening to reveal private love letters. Billie Jean later agreed to a separate $125,000 settlement.

Here's hoping Larry is hitting on a multi-colored court in the sky!

January 30, 1945 - May 29, 2026