But King admitted that he really couldn’t stand being cooped up, telling Ludwig on Talking Live that he was living with Cannon in a “beautiful apartment” in L.A., getting a little sun and doing some reading. However, “I don’t deal with confinement well,” he said.
“I don’t feel like a spiritual person, I’m certainly not religious,” King continued. “But one of my doctors, and I must have six, told me, he said, ‘You should have died a year ago,'” what with everything that happened when he was hospitalized for his stroke, including doctors needing to restart his heart. And the doctor told him, “‘Well, you have an indomitable spirit.’ I said, ‘Really?’ He said, ‘Yes, you have indomitable spirit, you defied death and didn’t want to die. And you beat death with indomitable spirit.'”
The same indomitable spirit that made him one of the most enduring faces and voices in broadcasting history.
“I pinch myself every day that I accomplished what I accomplished,” he said. “You know, this poor kid from Brooklyn…and to be where I am now, I have so much gratitude for that.”