Howard Stern remembers Larry King for allegedly flirting with his wife

Howard Stern remembered fellow radioman Larry King for allegedly hitting on his future wife.

In an unconventional tribute Monday, the SiriusXM broadcaster celebrated the life of King, 87, who died Saturday after a battle with COVID-19. Stern admitted he enjoyed “goofing on” King, but says he always liked him. Among the things they had in common was an apparent interest in Beth Stern, the shock jock’s now-wife.

According to Stern, an awkward encounter once happened before a taping of King’s CNN TV talk show that the shock jock appeared on at the Time Warner building on the Upper West Side. He didn’t say when it allegedly occurred, but it was prior to the Sterns’ 2008 wedding.

As the 67-year-old Stern recalled, his future wife — then Beth Ostrosky — met up with Stern before the taping and had plans to eat dinner afterwards. Once she showed up at the studio, King, who’d married eight times in his life, whisked her away.

“He moved like right in — he didn’t even see me,” Stern recalled.

Stern said he was taken into the make-up room, where King started buzzing about, “ultra-focused” on Beth.

“It was getting a little bit creepy,” Stern said. “I thought it was funny, don’t get me wrong. I didn’t feel threatened by Larry being ultra focused on Beth, but it got kind of annoying.”

Stern said that just as the show was about to go live, King was still asking about Beth, who was in the green room. He then left the desk and returned holding Beth’s hand, and wanted her to sit next to him so she could watch him host his show.

“I go, ‘What the f—k is going on here?’” Stern recalled. “He’s working it!”

Beth — a former model — recalled the incident in greater detail, claiming that King’s staff actually had Stern moved to a separate make-up room before taping began, leaving King alone with her. He then asked her where she was from and inquired about her upbringing.

“He was being very flirtatious, it was not inappropriate at all, but it was so sweet and charming,” she laughed. “I could have gotten him I think.”

She confessed, “It was so weird,” and said that after the taping, King asked her to “Come over and give me a hug and kiss goodbye.”

Like Stern, Beth insisted she didn’t feel at all threatened by the incident.

“I wasn’t worried at all,” she said. “I was flattered.”

She repeated “he did nothing inappropriate” and can see how so many women married King.

“You know whats great about this tribute?” Stern joked. “I don’t feel sad about his death anymore.”

Stern conceded that in the end, he was “honored” to have been associated with King and is saddened to no longer have him around.