Barbara Walters, the late pioneer journalist, brought ABC 20/20 on the map and co-creation View mode. During her iconic career, spanning 50 years and 12 Emmy Awards, she has interviewed Hollywood royalty, stars, presidents and stars. She died Friday at the age of 93 in New York and is survived by her adopted daughter Jacqueline.
Walters, who is known for making guests cry, is a broadcast fixture and credits her for transferring high schools three times to learn how to make friends and ask questions.
“I was never scared of celebrities because they worked for my father,” says Walters. “I’m curious. Even today, if I’m going out to dinner, and I’m sitting next to someone, and I ask a question, they’ll say, ‘Oh, you’re interviewing me.'”
The ceiling-shaking female announcer made history as the first female co-host of Today program and was the first $1 million a year news anchor.
During his decades-long career, Walters has interviewed Fred Astaire, Ingrid Bergman, Truman Capote, Mamie Eisenhower, Judy Garland, Audrey Hepburn, Candice Bergen, Diana Ross, Monica Seles, Michael Jackson, Roseanne Barr, Tom Cruise , Eddie Murphy, George Clooney, Kate Gosselin and Honey Boo-Boo, just to name a few.
Walters explains that the symbol often cheers her interviewees up when asked about their childhood “because it reveals and they will remember a parent or deceased person.” “That was before every celebrity coming out of rehab was crying. Now I say, ‘You dare not cry!’”
Watch her 10 pricey interviews, including those of Fidel Castro, Vladimir Putin, and Monica Lewinsky, below.
Monica Lewinsky
The New York Times reported in 1999 that Walters’ interview with the former White House intern “attracted an average of 48.5 million viewers, and an estimated 70 million people watched all or part of the two-year program.” now, in about 33.2 million homes.”
Lewinsky, the intern embroiled in a sex scandal that nearly destroyed Bill Clinton’s marriage and presidency, answered Walters’ burning questions, including sleeping with married men. her family and her weight problem.
Walters asked Lewinsky directly, “You showed the president your slit panties. Where did you get the nerve? I mean, who does it?” she said. She also asked the 25-year-old: “Where’s your self-esteem, where’s your self-esteem?”
See the interview.
Mike Tyson and Robin Givens
“Everywhere I went the next day, people asked me about it,” Walters told ABC News of her interview with Robin Givens and her then-husband, Mike Tyson.
Walters also cited that this would be the interview she wants someone who hasn’t seen her work before.
She didn’t shy away from deeply personal questions, including asking Givens if Tyson hit her.
Givens’ answer: “He was shaking. He pushes, he swings. Sometimes I think he’s trying to scare me. There are times when it happens that I think then I can handle it, you know. And just recently I’ve become scared, I mean very, very scared,” the audience’s eyes were opened wide.
See the interview.
Christopher Reeve
Walters interviewed Reeve several times after his 1995 horse-riding accident left him paralyzed. He chose Walters for his first interview during an impressive sit-down where he confessed that he wished he had died for a short while.
After he was thrown from a horse, Superman The star fractured his upper cervical vertebrae so badly that doctors never thought he would live, let alone regain any movement or breathe on his own.
“Before the surgery, when I first came out of consciousness, you know, and you thought maybe it wasn’t worth the trouble, and I had that thought for about 10 minutes, ‘ Reeves told Walters.
“That you want to die, unplug, whatever?” Walters asked Reeve.
“Yeah, I suggest, maybe I should check,” Reeve said. “And Dana, my wonderful, wonderful wife, said, ‘You’re still you, and I love you.’”
See the interview.
Putin
Walters was the first American journalist to interview a Russian president.
She directly asked Putin if he had ever ordered anyone to be killed, and he denied that claim.
“I don’t know if it’s possible to prevent these attacks on the United States by terrorists,” he said. 20/20by Barbara Walters about the 9/11 attacks, “but it is regrettable that our special services did not receive timely information and alert the American people and American political leadership of the tragedy.” happened.”
See the interview.
Robert Kardashian
After the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman made headlines for months in 1996, Walters convinced Robert Kardashian to sit down with her to discuss the case.
During the interview, Kardashian shocked when she said: “I have doubts” about her friend and former client due to blood evidence.
See the interview.
Oprah Winfrey
In a rare interview with Oprah, Walters asked the media mogul to discuss her friendship with Gayle King and the rumors about their relationship.
Before she burst into tears, Winfrey said she “knew no better” than her best friend.
She continued by addressing her gender identity, saying, “I’m not a lesbian. I’m not even a lesbian. And the reason it upsets me is because it means someone must think I’m lying. That’s number one. Second: why would you want to hide it? That’s not how I run my life.”
See the interview.
Hugo Chávez
When Barbara Walters interviewed President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, he made headlines across the country for calling President Bush “the devil” during a speech at the United Nations.
In typical Walters interview style, she asked about naming, to which he replied, “Yes, I call him the devil at the United Nations – That’s right. Another time I said he was a donkey just because I thought he was very ignorant.”
See the interview.
Fidel Castro
Walters was Castro’s first interview with an American journalist. The couple sailed together on the Bay of Pigs and spent 10 days traveling around Cuba. She was in the car next to him in the passenger seat and holding his gun.
Despite the dictator’s status, Walters baked him like a Hollywood star.
In the interview, Castro insisted Cuba had no protests and asked: “Why do we need to prevent anything from happening?” Walters replied, “But you mustn’t let that happen! Maybe people might want to protest!
The pioneer spent five hours with the dictator, which eventually resulted in her death threats.
After his death, Walters said, “He was charming and very careful about his private life. He calls our interviews ‘fiery debates’. During our time together, he made it clear to me that he was an absolute dictator and that he was a staunch opponent of democracy. I told him that the thing we disagreed most deeply with was the meaning of freedom.”
See the interview.
Katharine Hepburn
In this interview, Walters asked one of her funniest weird questions, “What kind of plant are you?” She received a lot of ridicule for the question, but in the interview it was a natural transition from Hepburn’s comment that she considers herself a tree. Walters later admitted it was one of her biggest interview mistakes.
See the interview.
Ellen DeGeneres
In an honest interview, DeGeneres talked to Walters about everything from her film career to her decision to appear. She is also open about her stepfather sexually abusing her and how she broke a window one night to escape.
See the interview.
