Barbara Walters Net Worth, Age, Husband, and Children

Barbara Walters Net Worth, Age, Husband, and Children

Barbara Jill Walters was born on September 25, 1929, in Boston, Massachusetts. Her parents, Dena and Louis, were both Jewish, and Lou managed the Latin Quarter nightclub in Boston before launching a nightclub chain in 1937. Barbara grew up around celebrities because her father, Lou, was a Broadway producer and the Entertainment Director for Las Vegas’ Tropicana Resort and Casino. Walters had an older sister, Jacqueline, who was mentally challenged and died of ovarian cancer in 1985. Barbara also had a brother, Burton, who died of pneumonia when she was very young in 1932.

Barbara attended Lawrence School in Brookline, Massachusetts, Ethical Culture Fieldston School and Birch Wathen School in New York City, and Miami Beach High School (where she graduated in 1947) in Florida. She went on to Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, New York, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1951. Walters worked for a small advertising agency for a year before landing a job at NBC affiliate WNBT-TV, where she wrote press releases and produced a children’s show called “Ask the Camera.” She produced the Eloise McElhone Show on WPIX until it was cancelled in 1954, then went on to write for “The Morning Show” on CBS the following year after leaving WNBT-TV.

Personal Life

Barbara married business executive Robert Henry Katz on June 20, 1955, and the marriage was annulled 11 months later in 1957. On December 8, 1963, she married theatrical producer Lee Guber, and they divorced in 1976; they adopted daughter Jacqueline together in 1968. From 1981 to 1984 and 1986 to 1992, Walters was married to Lorimar Television CEO Merv Adelson. Barbara dated Alan Greenspan (who would become Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve in 1987) in the 1970s and Senator John Warner in the 1990s.

In 2010, Walters took 6 months off from “The View” and her Sirius XM show “Here’s Barbara” to recover from open heart surgery; she had aortic valve stenosis and a faulty aortic valve needed to be replaced. Barbara returned to both jobs in September after the surgery went well. In 2014, she announced her retirement from both shows.

Career

Walters joined NBC’s “The Today Show” in 1961, first as a writer and researcher, then as the show’s “Today Girl,” covering lighter-fare stories and the weather. She quickly rose to the position of reporter-at-large, allowing her to create, write, and edit her own interviews and reports. Barbara became the first female co-host of “The Today Show” after host Frank McGee died in 1974. From 1971 to 1976, she also hosted “Not for Women Only,” which aired on a local NBC affiliate after “The Today Show.”

Barbara Walters Net Worth, Age, Husband, and Children
Barbara Walters Net Worth, Age, Husband, and Children

Walters co-anchored the “ABC Evening News” from 1976 to 1978, and she claims that co-anchor Harry Reasoner visibly mocked her on air. Barbara returned to ABC’s “20/20” in 1979, reuniting with Hugh Downs, with whom she had previously worked on “The Today Show.” She joined the show as Downs’ co-anchor in 1984 and stayed until her retirement in 2004.

Walters also created “The View,” a daytime talk show that debuted in August 1997. Barbara co-hosted the show with Meredith Vieira, Star Jones, Debbie Matenopoulos, and Joy Behar for the first few seasons. Lisa Ling, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Rosie O’Donnell, Whoopi Goldberg, Sherri Shepherd, and Jenny McCarthy have all co-hosted the show. The Daytime Emmy for Best Talk Show was awarded to “The View” in 2003, and Walters, Behar, Goldberg, Hasselbeck, and Shepherd shared the award for Best Talk Show Host in 2009. Barbara left the show on May 15, 2014, but continued to appear as a guest host until 2015.

During her career, Walters has interviewed many world leaders, including Anwar Al Sadat, Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin, Margaret Thatcher, Fidel Castro, and several US presidents. She is also known for her interviews with celebrities such as Michael Jackson, Katharine Hepburn, and Sir Laurence Olivier, and her 1999 interview with Monica Lewinsky was the second most-watched interview of all time, with 74 million viewers. Barbara has interviewed Donald and Melania Trump, Mary Kay Letourneau, and Peter Rodger (whose son killed 6 people and injured 14 others in Isla Vista, California in 2014) since her retirement, and she has hosted “American Scandals” on Investigation Discovery (2015), as well as her “10 Most Fascinating People” specials in 2014 and 2015.

Walters has received numerous awards throughout her distinguished career, including the President’s Award from the Overseas Press Club, the Lowell Thomas Award for a career in journalism excellence, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Women’s Media Foundation, and the Muse Award from New York Women in Film and Television. She has also received a Primetime Emmy, three Daytime Emmys (including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000), seven News and Documentary Emmys, a GLAAD Media Award, and a Television Critics Association Award.

Barbara was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame in 1989, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007, and was ranked #34 on “TV Guide’s” 1996 list of the “50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.”

Net Worth

Barbara Walters was an American broadcast journalist, author, and television personality who died with a net worth of $170 million. Barbara Walters died at the age of 93 on December 30, 2022. Walters hosted several television shows over the course of her career, including “20/20,” “The View” (which she also created and produced), and the “ABC Evening News.” In 1961, Walters began her career as a writer and researcher for “The Today Show,” and in 1974, she became the show’s co-host.

She was the first woman to co-anchor a network evening news programme in 1976, and she was the first woman to co-host an American news programme. Barbara is also well-known for her annual “Barbara Walters’ 10 Most Fascinating People” special and has written two books, “How to Talk with Practically Anyone About Practically Anything” (1970) and “Audition: A Memoir” (1980). (2008).

Facts

Net Worth$170 Million
Date of BirthSep 25, 1929 – Dec 30, 2022 (93 years old)
Place of BirthBoston
GenderFemale
Height5 ft 4 in (1.65 m)
ProfessionJournalist, Television producer, Author, Presenter, Screenwriter, Actor, Talk show host
NationalityUnited States of America