Pioneering Journalist Barbara Walters Dead at 93

Barbara Walters: The first US female network news anchor passed away peacefully at 93: Walters was a 12 Emmy-winning talk show host!

End of an era: Barbara Walters was an inspiration for women all around. A broadcast journalist and television personality, Walters was best known as the first female co-host of a morning and evening newscast, who broke barriers and laid a path for a generation of women to walk into. In her six decades in the industry, from 1951 to 2015, Barbara bagged 12 Emmys. The legendary broadcaster passed away at her home in Manhattan on December 30, 2022.   

"Barbara Walters passed away peacefully in her home surrounded by loved ones," Walters' representative Cindi Berger said in her statement, adding, "She lived her life with no regrets. She was a trailblazer not only for female journalists but for all women." Many stars and fellow journalists took to social media to mourn the loss of a legend. Oprah Winfrey paid a heartfelt tribute to Walters on her Instagram.   

Posting a throwback picture of the two, Winfrey wrote, "without Barbara Walters, there wouldn't have been me—nor any other woman you see on the evening, morning, and daily news. She was indeed a Trailblazer. I did my very first television audition with her in mind the whole time. The Oprah Winfrey talk show host adds, "Grateful that she was such a powerful and gracious role model. Grateful to have known her. Grateful to have followed in her Light."  

Journalist Dan Rather writes, "journalism has lost a pillar of professionalism, courage, and integrity." Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger also tweeted in memory of the Emmy-winning broadcaster. Iger writes, "Barbara was a true legend, a pioneer, not just for women in journalism but journalism itself. She was a one-of-a-kind reporter who landed many of the most important interviews of our time." Senator Chuck Schumer, actress Lynda Carter, singer Jennifer Hudson, and actor Hugh Jackman also mourned Barbara's death.   

Walters was the first female co-host of a morning and evening newscast!  

Born on September 25, 1929, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Dena and booking agent Lou Walters, Barbara kicked off her career with a brief stint as a writer for CBS News and slowly made her way to become the first female co-host of a news program on NBC's morning-time Today Show. Walters was one of the few journalists in the male-dominated industry to interview every US president, from Richard Nixon to Donald Trump. 

The pioneering female journalist created her daytime talk show The View in 1997 and frequently appeared on the show as a co-host until her retirement in 2014. "Some people admired it. Others said, 'She's rude," Walters said while addressing the casual sexism in the industry. The late icon adds, "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."  Walters was married three times before her death. She was first married to business executive Robert Henry Katz for eleven months. The View creator's second husband was theatrical producer Lee Guber, with whom she adopted a daughter named Jacqueline Dena Guber. Walters' last husband was television producer Merv Adelson, who she married in 1981 and divorced in 1984. The couple gave their marriage another shot, remarrying in 1986, but called it quit for good in 1992. 

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