Barbara Walters was forced to ‘quit’ ‘The View’ few years before her death, close pal Lisa Ling says
MAN HATTAN, NEW YORK: Acclaimed journalist Barbara Walters did not step down from her hosting duties from ‘The View’ by choice but she was made to step down, her dear friend Lisa Ling reportedly revealed. The decision was taken just a few years before Walters died at her home in New York in December 2022. She was 93 at the time.
The shocking revelation about Walters’ departure from the talk show was made by Ling during an interview. The 49-year-old journalist told The Cut, “I’ve never shared this with anyone.” Recalling the last day of the late host of ‘20/20’ on the set of ‘The View’ set in 2014, Ling said she asked her, “Barbara, in a couple of months, are you going to be lounging in a hammock in Tahiti?” To her question, Walters reportedly replied, “They’re making me quit.”
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‘She was a one-of-a-kind reporter’
As per reports, Walters was not just the co-host of ‘The View’, she also produced and created it as it went live in 1997. On December 30, 2022, she died surrounded by family and dear ones. At the time, the Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company, Bob Iger said, “Barbara was a true legend, a pioneer not just for women in journalism but for journalism itself. She was a one-of-a-kind reporter who landed many of the most important interviews of our time, from heads of state to the biggest celebrities and sports icons.”
The first female co-host of the ‘Today’ show was also called an “inimitable trailblazer” by ABC News Senior National Affairs Correspondent Deborah Roberts. She shared, “So sad to hear of the passing of Barbara Walters. What an honor to share the set with the inimitable trailblazer when I joined @abc2020. Will never forget the phone call when she asked me to join the groundbreaking program.”
David Muir, anchor of ‘ABC World News Tonight’, added, “So often we toss around the words - icon, legend, trailblazer - but Barbara Walters was all of these - and perhaps above all else, Barbara Walters was brave. She paved the way for so many - we learned from her - and remain in awe of her to this day. RIP, Barbara.”
A tweet by 'The View' read, "@TheView family is so very lucky to have called Barbara Walters our creator, colleague and friend. We’re heartbroken at the news of her passing."
.@TheView family is so very lucky to have called Barbara Walters our creator, colleague and friend. We’re heartbroken at the news of her passing. pic.twitter.com/sPMk6ZCcoE
— The View (@TheView) December 31, 2022
‘They were also human beings with real-life problems’
Walters was the child of Dena and Louis Walters. Since her father was a booking agent and nightclub producer, she saw many celebrities closely and learned an important lesson at a young age. During an interview with the Television Academy of Arts & Sciences in 1989 as reported by The Sun, Walters said, “I would see them onstage looking one way and offstage often looking very different.”
She added, “I would hear my parents talk about them and know that even though those performers were very special people, they were also human beings with real-life problems. I can have respect and admiration for famous people, but I have never had a sense of fear or awe.”