Hector Penate Confirms Affair with Larry King’s Wife, Shawn Southwick

In true celebrity / seek your 15 minutes of fame fashion, a former Little League coach steps forward to confirm that rumors that he’s been having an affair with Larry King’s wife, Shawn Southwick, are actually true. Hector Penate talks to In Touch magazine to reveal all the specifics of the affair, including how it was carried out and the kind of gifts he was showered with, NY Post’s PageSix reports.

Speculation about Penate being involved with Southwick made the rounds earlier on, but it was more like a buzz than a full-blown rumor worthy of grabbing headlines. To avoid all misunderstanding and confusion, the coach takes it upon himself to set the record straight: yes, he did have an affair with Shawn that Larry King knew of but never cared about because he too was involved with his sister-in-law.

“A former Little League coach to the sons of Larry King and estranged wife Shawn Southwick claims he had an affair with Southwick – but says King didn’t care because he was carrying on with Southwick’s sister, Shannon Engemann. ‘I still think to this day that Larry is in love with Shawn’s sister,’ Hector Penate, 31, told In Touch magazine out today. Penate says he started sleeping with 50-year-old Southwick 2½ weeks after they met in 2007, when Penate was the baseball coach for the couple’s sons, Chance, 11, and Cannon, 9,” the report says.

Aside from making love in Larry’s own bed, Penate also reveals that Shawn literally had him on a tight leash, even convincing him to put his name on a lease Hector had on real estate. Shawn also made sure that her lover lacked nothing, showering him with gifts that she would buy of King’s money, including fancy cars and jewelry. An even more explosive revelation is that Shawn reportedly wanted to get pregnant by Penate and was having her eggs fertilized for that purpose, he says.

“Penate also said Southwick wanted to have a baby with him: ‘She was trying to fertilize her eggs to do that.’ Southwick allegedly lavished Penate with gifts, including a BMW 7 Series, and paid his rent. What’s more, says Penate, Southwick had King co-sign the lease for Penate’s Studio City, Calif., apartment. ‘She controlled him,’ Penate tells the magazine. ‘He just sat there and signed it’,” PageSix further writes.