Barbara Walters, the iconic TV news broadcaster has died at 93, according to ABC.
“Barbara Walters passed away peacefully in her home surrounded by loved ones,” her representative Cindi Berger told People. Adding, “She lived her life with no regrets. She was a trailblazer not only for female journalists, but for all women.”
She first made headwaves as a journalist by joining NBC’s “Today” show in 1961 before being promoted to co-host in 1974.
She then joined ABC news in 1976 and made history on evening news as the first-ever female anchor. Her long-running series on the “10 Most Fascinating People” and her ability to snag major interviews with the likes of sitting Presidents of the United States like President Reagan to Fidel Castro to Monica Lewinsky to George Clooney to Caitlyn Jenner made her a force. Barbara got the interviews that were where the conversation was happening.
She also became a co-host of “2020” in 1979 and in 1997 she created “The View.”
Throughout her long-lasting career she has interviews dozens of celebrities, world leaders, politicians and more, winning 12 Emmy awards.
In 2014, she made last appearance as a cohost of “The View” but stayed on as an executive producer of the show and still conducted special interviews for ABC News.
“I do not want to appear on another program or climb another mountain,” she said following her last appearance on the daytime talk show. “I want instead to sit on a sunny field and admire the very gifted women — and OK, some men too — who will be taking my place.”
During a TV special in 2014, Barbara said, “I do so much homework, I know more about the person than he or she knows about themselves.”
In her 2008 autobiography, “Audition” she revealed that she had an affair with U.S. Senator Edward Brooke in the 1970s and also around the same time dated Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.
TV Icon Barbara Walters Over The Years
View GalleryThe trailblazing journalist was outspoken about the sexism that she faced throughout her career.
In a 2015 episode of “Oprah’s Master Class” she said, “The so-called hard news, a woman couldn’t do it. The audience wouldn’t accept her voice. She couldn’t go into the war zones, she couldn’t ask the tough questions.”
But she refused to back down, “Some people admired it. Others said, ‘She’s rude,'” Walters said. “On the one hand, it made me more valuable; on the other hand, I got the reputation as being a pushy cookie. ‘There goes that pushy cookie.'”
Barbara Walters Meets Presidents Of The United States
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