Larry King Denies Groping Incident, Intends to File Lawsuit

Television legend Larry King is denying an allegation that he groped Terry Richard, the ex-wife of the late singer Eddie Fisher.

Richard made the allegations in an interview with The Daily Mail published on Monday.

The 84-year-old King told PEOPLE in a statement through his lawyer that he “flatly and unequivocally denies these claims.” He “intends to file suit and prove that they’re utterly false.”

In her Daily Mail interview, the 63-year-old Richard claimed King groped her in 2005 and 2006. In the first incident, the two were posing for a photo when, she claims, he slid his hand down her backless dress and put his fingers between her buttocks.

In the second alleged incident, they were also taking a photo. This time, King allegedly squeezed her buttocks so hard she got a bruise.

“Larry King is a groper. He groped me twice. He gets a thrill doing this in front of the camera, knowing I couldn’t do anything,” Richard told the Mail.

Richard said she first met King in 2004 and he told her she was Fisher’s fourth wife. She took a photo with King and her son. She claims King asked her when she would come on his show, and she told him she needed to finish her book.

Richard said the first alleged groping incident happened while she was working for the Tolucan Times and covered a basketball awards dinner at Universal Studios. She took the photo with King on the red carpet and it was published in the newspaper.

“Larry put his hand behind me on my back and as the photographer was taking our picture Larry slid his hand down from the middle of my back to putting his hand inside of my dress and it ended up with about three or four of his fingers in the crack of my a–, resting in the crack of my a–,” Richard claimed. “He just stuck it in… I don’t know how he got [his hand] in there, but he did. I couldn’t believe it. I was so shocked. I froze. I let out a ‘squelch.’”

She claimed King had a “big smile on his face” after the incident, and she wanted hit slap him but didn’t.

King’s lawyer denied the allegations, calling them “entirely and unequivocally false and defamatory.”

According to PEOPLE, King’s lawyer also told the Daily Mail, “Your publishing this false and defamatory statement will be actionable and highly damaging.”

Richard was the fourth of Fisher’s five wives. They were married briefly from 1975 to 1976. The singer died in 2010.

Photo credit: Instagram/ Larry King Now