'The View' Planning Barbara Walters Special to Honor Talk Show's Creator
The View has been one of the most-watched morning talk shows for many years, and would not even exist if not for late creator Barbara Walters. Now, it's been announced that the show is planning a special to honor the iconic journalist, following her death. In an Instagram post on Sunday, The View revealed that Tuesday's episode would be dedicated to the life and legacy of Walters.
"[The View] was her idea, her passion, her show," reads the post caption. "Tuesday morning, join us on [The View] as we celebrate the one and only Barbara Walters." The post has received a number of comments from fans, with one person writing, "Barbara Walters is [an] inspiration to all women working in the journalism field she is surely missed." Someone else added, "She was one of the last journalists who just reported without an agenda, without inserting her political beliefs. She was a trailblazer for women of all walks of life. She will be greatly missed."
Walters was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1929, and as a young woman she Sarah Lawrence College. After graduating with a Journalism degree, she began working in the news industry, eventually landing a job with the Today show in the early 1960s. Walters later went on to appear on the ABC Evening News and made a name for herself on the newsmagazine series 20/20, where she sat down for many iconic celebrity and political interviews. In 1997, Walters helped create The View, which has since gone on to become one of the biggest daytime talk shows of all time. Walters left the series in 2014 and remained fairly low-key after that.
The legendary reporter passed away on Friday in New York City. She was 93. No cause of death was revealed at the time. Walters had been living out of public view for years, with only some sharing her condition on social media. In a statement, Walters' spokesperson Cindi Berger told CNN, "Barbara Walters passed away peacefully in her home surrounded by loved ones. She lived her life with no regrets. She was a trailblazer not only for female journalists but for all women."
In fall of 2018, rumors about Walters' health began to swirl after Radar Online reported that insiders told them that Walters had been spending most of her time alone in her New York City apartment for at least two years. A representative for Walters later told Radar that the journalism icon was "doing fine." Walters was married four times to three different men during her life, but was not married at the time of her death. She is survived by her daughter, Jacqueline Dena Guber.