Larry King's cause of death confirmed to be sepsis - not COVID-19 - as two underlying health conditions are revealed

• People reported that Larry King died of sepsis and had two underlying conditions.
• His cause of death was previously speculated to be COVID-19 after he was hospitalized.
• King died on January 23 in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 87.

Larry King's cause of death has been confirmed nearly one month after he died at age 87.

King was admitted to Cedar-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, in December during his battle with COVID-19. He later died on January 23, but his death certificate has confirmed that COVID-19 was not the cause of death.

According to People, the legendary broadcaster's immediate cause of death was sepsis.

Sepsis occurs when " an infection you already have triggers a chain reaction throughout your body" and "is the body's extreme response to an infection," wrote the CDC.

The death certificate reportedly showed that King had two underlying conditions at the time, including hypoxic respiratory failure, which means there was not enough oxygen in his blood.

King also suffered from end-stage renal disease, more commonly known as kidney failure.

King's family denied rumors that he died from COVID-19

Shawn Southwick King, his estranged wife, initially pushed back against speculation that King died of COVID-19.

"It was an infection, it was sepsis," she told Entertainment Tonight in January.

"He was finally ready to go, I will tell you that. You know, he never wanted to go, but his sweet little body was just, it had just been hit so many times with so many things, and once we heard the word COVID, all of our hearts just sunk," said Shawn.

She continued that "he beat it, but it did take its toll and then the unrelated infection finally is what took him, but boy, he was not gonna go down easily."

King has suffered from a number of concerning health conditions during his career, including a lung cancer diagnosis, prostate cancer, and a heart attack.

King, who has been married eight times, tied the knot with Shawn in 1997. King filed for divorce in 2010 but later retracted the paperwork. He filed for divorce from Shawn a second time in 2019 after 22 years of marriage.

He has five children, including Andy and Chaia King, who tragically died three weeks apart from each other in 2020.

Following his death, King received an outpouring of tributes and praise for his long-running career.