The media has confirmed the passing of pioneering journalist and television personality Barbara Walters. She was 93.
She passed away on Friday night, according to her representative Cindi Berger. Barbara Walters died peacefully at home, surrounded by her loved ones, according to Berger. She had a lavish existence.
“She had no regrets about how she had lived. She paved the way for all women, not just female journalists.”
Bob Iger, the CEO of Walt Disney, tweeted about Walters’ passing and said that the “unique reporter” had passed away in her New York residence.
Iger wrote on Twitter that Barbara was “a true legend, a pioneer, not just for women in journalism but journalism itself” and had landed some of the “most important interviews of our time.”
Walters, who was born in Boston on September 25, 1929, grew up in a New York home where her father, nightclub owner and Broadway producer Lou Walters, was friends with several famous people. She studied at Sarah Lawrence College and received an English degree.
After a brief time as a writer for CBS News, Walters began her career in television news in 1961 when she was hired as a writer and researcher for NBC’s Today program. She worked her way through the ranks, covering feature stories and reporting on the weather before being promoted to reporter-at-large and finally serving as the program’s first female co-host with Hugh Downs and Frank McGee.
Walters revealed that she had an affair with U.S. Senator Edward Brooke in the 1970s in her 2008 autobiography, Audition. Around the same time, she was also dating Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.
After leaving NBC, Walters joined ABC’s 20/20 news show three years after joining the ABC Evening News as a co-anchor in 1976. She co-hosted 20/20 until 2004, during which time she interviewed a number of well-known people, including Michael Jackson, Monica Lewinsky, Richard Nixon, and Vladimir Putin. She was equally at ease speaking with political figures as well as pop culture celebrities. Additionally, she moderated presidential debates.
Walters launched her daytime chat show, The View, in 1997. She co-hosted the show frequently until she left in 2014.
From 1993 until 2015, ABC aired her cherished year-end Most Fascinating People special every year (with the exception of 2000 and 2001).
Three Emmy Distinctions, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the New York Women’s Agenda Lifetime Achievement Award, and the News and Documentary Emmy Award are just a few of the many honors and awards she has received.
The superstar was very vocal about encountering sexism in her professional life.
“The ‘hard news’ was that a woman couldn’t do it. Her voice wouldn’t be heard by the crowd, “In an Oprah’s Master Class video from 2015, Walters remarked. She was unable to enter conflict areas and pose difficult inquiries.
As a result, Walters claimed, she resisted giving in.
“Some individuals admired it. She’s rude, others have said.” stated Walters. “On the one hand, it increased my value, but on the other, it gave me a reputation as an aggressive person. That aggressive cookie is gone.”
The View season 25 co-hosts Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, Sara Haines, and special guest panelist Ana Navarro celebrated Walters’ milestone birthday when she turned 92 in 2021. (The show’s current moderator, Whoopi Goldberg, was absent.)
Meredith Vieira, a View graduate who went on to become the show’s first moderator, spoke candidly about how she got the job to PEOPLE in September of that year, saying it was a “tremendous” honor to be picked by Walters.
“It was kind of a dream come true to be able to work with her. She may have been hesitant to hire me because she was unaware of my sense of humor. Barbara, though, gambled on me. I wasn’t seeking for it or really interested in it until I went to the audition, “She spoke. “I don’t know why I’d actually appreciate this, but I do,” I realized at that point.
Vieira continued, “Once you work with Barbara, she’s a really complicated person. “She is both really kind and giving while still being a true taskmaster and tough as nails, which is why she was successful in this industry when there were so few women. She was incredibly tenacious in addition to smart.”
Many former co-hosts of The View recently spoke to PEOPLE about Walters’ groundbreaking career and the significant influence she had on them in honor of The View’s 25th anniversary.
“I’ve always imagined Barbara as the grownup on [The View] while the rest of us were playing in the sandbox. Because Barbara would always be there, she served as a stable element that was really lovely to have “explained Goldberg. “She was a goldmine of wonderful knowledge. She knew everyone and spoke with everyone. People wanted to come, and many wanted to meet her, so it was a blessing that she was here. We had the chance to learn how to conduct a real interview. Lucky for us, we had that.”
She continued, “Actually, I’m missing her right now from the program. I do. Although I would like to see her return, it seems unlikely that will happen.”
“No matter what anyone thinks, having the opportunity to work with Barbara Walters was one of my greatest privileges. I never forgot that if it weren’t for the struggles that women like Barbara faced as they rose through the ranks of the industry, I might not be doing what I’m doing today “said Lisa Ling. “She was strict with all of us because she demanded excellence, and I worked really hard to meet her expectations since she put her trust in me. I gained a lot of knowledge from Barbara, and I will always be appreciative of the chance she offered me as well as the guidance she gave me.”
Call from Debbie Matenopoulos to Walters “The show was created by the Grande Dame and executive producer Bill Geddie, so whatever she said should have been well received. Not to mention the fact that she blazed a road for a great number of women who followed her in the profession of journalism. She gained the right to carry out her own decisions after paying her dues. She was tough and held everyone to a high standard, I won’t lie. But only because she didn’t settle for anything less than what she was willing to provide. These days, the term “boss” is frequently used, yet she was the epitome of the term. One and only one Barbara Walters will ever exist.”
Walters “was very much a teacher” and “was very much a mentor for me,” according to current co-host Hostin.
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This fall, Sherri Shepherd, who will host her own program, revealed: “She taught me how to inquire and to be genuinely interested in others. I learned to speak up from Barbara.”
After divorcing her third husband, Merv Adelson, in 1992, Walters never got married again. Jacqueline (“Jackie”) Danforth, her daughter with her ex-husband Lee Guber, is her only heir.
