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Billie Jean King is one of the greatest and most influential tennis players of all time. The American had a glittering career, during which, she won 12 Grand Slam singles titles and another 27 Majors in doubles and mixed doubles.
Billie Jean King is also highly regarded for her activism in tennis, particularly campaigning for gender equality and equal pay. Her feminism over the years has made her a highly-revered figure in the sport, especially in the women's game.
King was featured in an episode of SportsCentury in 2001, where she spoke about her early meetings with sports promoter Larry King, who became her husband.
She said she first met him in the library and instantly fell in love with him.
"So I'm in a library, Boom! Fell in love with him. Totally thought he was the cutest thing ever," King said.
Larry King said that the two kept running into each other all over the Cal State campus. He also stated that the two made a great team.
"We just kind of kept running into each other all over campus even if I had to hunt for a couple of hours to find her. Billie Jean and I were like the yin and yang. I worked on ideas and she worked on people and we made a great team," he stated.
The former World No. 1 said that Larry King was the one who made her a feminist. She also revealed the conversation they had which propelled her to become a feminist and said that it clarified a lot of things for her.
"Larry is the one who made me a feminist. We're walking hand-in-hand just right by the tennis courts and he says, 'You know you're a second-class citizen'. He says, 'You're the best-known person in the school, you're the best athlete in the school and you can't even get a grant to Cal State L.A. because you are a girl. That solidified for me, just absolutely, total clarity came upon me because of what Larry said. He absolutely cleared up all this bubbly inside of me and I went 'BOOM'", King said.
Billie Jean King was married to Larry King for 22 years
Billie Jean King and Larry King got married in 1965 and stayed married until 1987 despite the former coming out as lesbian. The former World No. 1 is currently married to fellow tennis player Ilana Kloss, who was also her doubles partner.
Despite their divorce, Billie Jean King and Larry King are still close, with the former being godmother to the latter's son from his second marriage to Nancy King.
