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NEED TO KNOW
Billie Jean King and her ex-husband Larry King are opening up about their marriage and their eventual divorce, including the moment he learned she was gay
Despite discussions about divorce and having "an open kind of relationship," Billie Jean and Larry stayed married until 1987
Give Me the Ball! premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 27
Billie Jean Kingand her former husband, Larry King, are reflecting on their marriage and eventual divorce, including the moment he learned she was gay — just one day before the story became public.
In the new documentaryGive Me the Ball!, which premiered Jan. 27 at the Sundance Film Festival, Larry reveals 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, now 81, says he and Billie Jean, 82, 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."
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Billie Jean, who met Larry while they were both attending California State University and 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 says. "I tried to fit into that plan, but it was more the life that Billie Jean wanted. It wasn't the life I wanted."
Adds Billie Jean, "He wanted us to have children and everything, but I started to realize something isn't right."
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After an abortion that was made public by Larry — "I wasn't gonna tell anybody," Billie Jean says — 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 says. "I considered the divorce stuff to be more nonsense than reality."
"It wasn't right for Larry and I to stay married," Billie Jean adds. "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 says he didn't view the hairdresser as a serious threat. "I didn't really look at Marilyn Barnett as a real threat," he says. "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."
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Larry stood by Billie Jean's side during the press conference where she admitted to the affair and remained close to her until their divorce in 1987. (Larry has been married to Nancy King since 1990.) Today, Billie Jean — who married former tennis playerIlana Klossin 2018 — says everyone involved has found happiness. "Larry and I, we're still friends," she says. "[He and Nancy] have two children. We're the godmothers. Ilana and I are so happy now."
Give Me the Ball!premiered Jan. 27 at the Sundance Film Festival and screens through Feb. 1.
Read the original article onPeople
