Ka Ho Cho stepped briefly into the public eye in 1991 when she married legendary comedian Redd Foxx, the actor best known for creating and starring in the groundbreaking sitcom Sanford and Son. Their relationship began quietly in a Las Vegas casino and ended tragically just months after their wedding, when Foxx suffered a fatal heart attack while rehearsing for a new television series. Because the marriage was so short and Cho has avoided the spotlight ever since, most of what the public knows about her comes from scattered interviews Foxx gave during his lifetime and from later reporting on his estate. This article gathers the verified facts about Ka Ho Cho, explains how she is connected to one of America’s most influential comedians, and clearly separates what is confirmed from what remains speculation.
Quick Bio Table
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Ka Ho Cho (also written as Kaho Cho) |
| Date of Birth | Reportedly around 1959 (unconfirmed) |
| Birthplace | Seoul, South Korea |
| Nationality | South Korean |
| Occupation | Not publicly documented |
| Known For | Fourth and final wife of comedian Redd Foxx |
| Spouse | Redd Foxx (married July 1991 until his death in October 1991) |
| Marriage Length | Approximately three months |
| Children | No confirmed biological children; became stepmother to Foxx’s daughter, Debraca Denise Foxx |
| Current Status | Largely private; whereabouts not publicly confirmed |
Early Life and Background
Since Ka Ho Cho has never given a public interview and has not participated in documentaries or biographies about Redd Foxx, verified details about her childhood and early life are limited. What little information exists points to Seoul, South Korea, as her birthplace, and several entertainment outlets place her birth year around 1959, though this figure has not been confirmed by primary sources and should be treated as an estimate rather than settled fact.
Little is documented about her family background, education, or career before she met Foxx. Unlike some of his previous wives, who worked in Las Vegas entertainment as dancers and cocktail waitresses, no verified employment history exists for Cho. Some outlets describe her simply as a Korean woman who was in Las Vegas at the time she met Foxx, without further detail about her profession or her reason for being there.
This scarcity of early biographical information is common among people who become publicly known primarily through a brief marriage to a celebrity. Cho never sought media attention on her own, and after Foxx’s death she made a deliberate choice to stay out of the public conversation entirely, which means many basic facts about her life before 1989 remain unknown to this day.
How Ka Ho Cho Met Redd Foxx
According to multiple entertainment biographies, Cho and Foxx crossed paths at Bally’s Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas in March 1989. Foxx was a fixture of the Las Vegas entertainment scene by that point, having performed on the Strip for decades and built a reputation as one of the sharpest stand up comedians of his generation.
Foxx was going through a difficult period in his life at the time. He had recently finalized his third divorce, and the Internal Revenue Service was pursuing him aggressively over millions of dollars in unpaid taxes, a battle that had already resulted in agents seizing property from his home in a widely publicized raid. Despite these troubles, or perhaps in part because of them, Foxx and Cho began a relationship that would eventually lead to marriage more than two years later.
Foxx spoke about the relationship candidly in an interview with Jet magazine, explaining his decision to marry again after previously saying he was finished with marriage following his third divorce. He said, “She saw me with a nickel. And hopefully, she will see me with a dollar. I’ll give her seventy five cents of it.” The comment reflected both his self-deprecating sense of humor and his genuine appreciation that Cho had stayed by his side through serious financial hardship rather than walking away once his money troubles became public knowledge.
The Marriage: A Whirlwind Romance in Las Vegas
Ka Ho Cho and Redd Foxx married in July 1991 at the Little Church of the West, a historic wedding chapel on the Las Vegas Strip that has hosted ceremonies for numerous celebrities over the decades. The couple held their reception at the Hacienda Hotel, another well-known Las Vegas property from that era.
The wedding came more than two years after the couple first met, suggesting a relationship that developed gradually rather than a spontaneous Las Vegas romance. By the time they married, Foxx was 68 years old and had already been through three previous marriages, while Cho was reportedly in her early thirties, though her exact age at the time of the wedding remains unconfirmed by any primary source.
Friends and colleagues of Foxx later described the marriage as a source of genuine happiness for him during an otherwise turbulent chapter of his life. Financial pressure from the IRS had forced him to sell assets and cut back significantly on the extravagant lifestyle he had built over decades in show business, and associates said Cho’s steady support meant a great deal to him during that difficult stretch.
Who Was Redd Foxx? A Brief Look at the Comedy Legend
To understand why Ka Ho Cho remains a subject of public curiosity today, it helps to understand exactly who Redd Foxx was. Born John Elroy Sanford on December 9, 1922, in St. Louis, Missouri, Foxx built his career on raunchy, boundary-pushing stand up comedy albums throughout the 1950s and 1960s before achieving mainstream fame with the sitcom Sanford and Son, which aired on NBC from 1972 to 1977.
The show, in which Foxx played a cantankerous junk dealer named Fred Sanford, became one of the most popular sitcoms of its era and made Foxx a household name across the country. He later starred in other television projects, including The Redd Foxx Show and Sanford, and he continued performing stand up comedy throughout his career, even as his television fortunes rose and fell.
Despite his professional success, Foxx struggled with money for much of his life, partly due to lavish spending and partly due to disputes with the IRS that followed him for years and occasionally made national headlines. At the time of his death, he was rehearsing for a new sitcom called The Royal Family, in which he starred alongside Della Reese. On October 11, 1991, Foxx suffered a massive heart attack on the set. Crew members initially believed he was performing one of his signature comedic bits, since his character Fred Sanford famously faked heart attacks on Sanford and Son, and the delay in recognizing the real emergency was widely reported as a tragic irony after his death.
Life After Redd Foxx’s Death
Foxx’s sudden death left Ka Ho Cho a widow after fewer than three months of marriage. The abrupt end to the relationship, combined with the fact that the couple had so little time to build a shared public life together, meant that Cho had almost no established public profile to rely on once the media attention surrounding Foxx’s death began to subside.
In the aftermath, some reports indicate that Cho became involved in disputes over Foxx’s estate, which was left in serious financial disarray due to his outstanding tax debt, estimated at more than three and a half million dollars. Certain accounts describe tension between Cho and Debraca Denise Foxx, the comedian’s daughter from his second marriage, over how the estate’s remaining assets were being managed. These reports describe Cho accusing Debraca of using funds that should have gone toward settling Foxx’s debts, though the full details of this dispute were never extensively documented in mainstream press coverage at the time, and readers should treat this account as reported rather than fully verified.
Beyond this period immediately following Foxx’s death, verified information about Cho’s life becomes very sparse. According to available reporting, she did not remarry, and she has not given interviews, appeared at public events connected to Foxx’s legacy, or otherwise sought media attention in the decades since his passing.
Where Is Ka Ho Cho Today?
More than three decades after Redd Foxx’s death, Ka Ho Cho’s current whereabouts and circumstances remain largely unknown to the public. Some sources suggest she returned to a quiet, private life connected to her South Korean roots, while others simply note that no verifiable public record of her exists after the early 1990s. Neither claim has been confirmed through official documentation, court records, or firsthand interviews, so both should be read as unverified reporting rather than established fact.
What can be said with confidence is that Cho has consistently avoided the media spotlight since Foxx’s death. She has no known public social media presence, has not participated in any of the documentaries or retrospectives made about Foxx’s life and career, and has never publicly discussed their brief marriage in her own words. This sustained privacy is precisely why so many basic facts about her, from her exact birth date to her occupation, remain unresolved.
Why People Are Searching for Ka Ho Cho Now
Interest in Ka Ho Cho tends to spike whenever Redd Foxx’s life and career resurface in popular culture, whether through documentaries, retrospectives on classic television, or renewed streaming interest in Sanford and Son. As one of the few people who knew Foxx intimately during the final chapter of his life, Cho occupies a unique but largely undocumented place in his personal history, which naturally makes readers curious to learn more.
Fans and pop culture researchers are often drawn to her story because it represents an unusually poignant footnote to Foxx’s biography. The couple married after Foxx had weathered three failed marriages and a punishing financial crisis, and their union ended almost as quickly as it began. That combination of hope, hardship, and sudden loss makes Cho a natural subject of curiosity for anyone exploring Foxx’s complete life story rather than just his television career.
There is also a broader pattern at work here. Search interest in the lesser known spouses, partners, and family members of celebrities has grown considerably as audiences look beyond a star’s public achievements to understand their personal lives more fully. Ka Ho Cho fits neatly into this pattern precisely because so little is publicly known about her, which paradoxically fuels more curiosity rather than less.
Conclusion
Ka Ho Cho’s place in public memory is defined almost entirely by her brief marriage to Redd Foxx, one of American comedy’s most influential figures. The available record shows a woman from Seoul, South Korea, who met Foxx in Las Vegas, stood by him through serious financial hardship, and married him in the summer of 1991, only to become his widow within months when he died suddenly on the set of his final television project. Beyond these core facts, much about her life, both before and after this brief chapter, remains unverified or entirely unknown, largely because she has chosen to stay out of the public eye. That privacy has not diminished interest in her story. If anything, it has kept people searching for answers about the woman who shared Redd Foxx’s final months.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Ka Ho Cho? Ka Ho Cho is the South Korean woman who became comedian Redd Foxx’s fourth and final wife. The couple married in July 1991, just months before Foxx’s sudden death.
How did Ka Ho Cho meet Redd Foxx? According to entertainment biographies, the two met at Bally’s Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas in March 1989. They married more than two years later, after Foxx had moved past his third divorce and ongoing financial troubles.
Did Ka Ho Cho and Redd Foxx have children together? There is no confirmed record of Ka Ho Cho and Redd Foxx having biological children together. She did become a stepmother to Debraca Denise Foxx, the comedian’s daughter from an earlier marriage.
How long were Ka Ho Cho and Redd Foxx married? Their marriage lasted approximately three months, from July 1991 until Foxx’s death from a heart attack on October 11, 1991, while he was rehearsing for the television series The Royal Family.
Is Ka Ho Cho still alive today? Public records do not clearly confirm Ka Ho Cho’s current status or whereabouts. She has avoided media attention since Foxx’s death, and no verified recent information about her well-being is publicly available.
