The former news anchor, TV host, and legendary journalist Barbara Walters opened up about her regrets in life, including not having a more prominent family.
Barbara Walters is a journalist who is a significant figure. Her unique personality and trademark interview style made her the first female co-host in an American news program and the first female co-anchor of a network evening news program. She’s been honored with numerous awards during her impressive career, from a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame to Emmy Awards.
She created a whole new “personality journalism,” adding a personal touch to her interviews, which granted her a wide range of interviews with influential people, from Fidel Castro to Dalai Lama to Margareth Tatcher, and the list goes on.
Barbara Walters signed copies of her book Audition: A Memoir at Barnes & Noble, Lincoln Square on May 6, 2008, in New York City.
Walters’ unique personality and trademark interview style made her the first female co-host in an American news program and the first female co-anchor of a network evening news program.
As the number of accolades that the journalist collects, and in her own words in an interview with Piers Morgan for CNN, her career was beyond anything she could ever expect.
Walters regrets some things about her personal life. She wishes she had more children and a more prominent family. Walters’ regret doesn’t stem from not trying hard enough.
Barbara Walters during the 30th annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards on September 21, 2009, in New York City.
Her regret isn’t from a lack of trying, though. She was 92 years old when she had three miscarriages. At 39, she adopted a girl named Jackie with Lee Guber, her second husband. We know that she has been married twice.
In 2014 at the ABC News Special, she spoke candidly about being too busy focused on her career that she wished she could have spent more time with her daughter:
“You know, on your deathbed, are you going to say, ‘I wish I spent more time in the office?’ No. You’ll say, ‘I wish I spent more time with my family.'”
Barbara Walters speaks to Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump in New York City for her annual “Barbara Walters Presents The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2015.
Walters, who has been married four times, admittedly said that she put her career first frequently, and perhaps, she thinks she may be a “difficult person to be married to.”
Despite “not being very good at marriage,” as she described herself, she always dreamed of having children. Walters and her then-husband Lee Guber, whom she was married to from 1963 until 1976, decided to take the parenthood road and have kids.
Before considering adoption, Walters and Guber went through sad and painful losses. But it seemed that it was “no coincidence” that the couple shouldn’t have a biological daughter. So life presented a surprising reason for them to become parents.
American broadcast journalist Barbara Walters sits at home with her husband, businessman, and theatre producer Lee Guber (1920 – 1988), New York, 1966.
One evening, the couple went for dinner with friends that they had rarely seen. Guber and Walters mentioned they were considering adopting a child, so were their friends. After that dinner, according to Guber, their hearts set on adopting a baby girl.
Jackie Dena Guber, named after Walters’ mentally disabled sister, who passed away in 1985, went through her own set of struggles while growing up with a celebrity parent.
Perhaps, her ability to deal with her mother’s absence was exploring an unknown yet tricky world well beyond her teenage reality at the time.
Broadcasting legend Barbara Walters says goodbye to daily television with her final co-host appearance on THE VIEW on the Disney General Entertainment Content via Television Network in 2014.
Rebelliousness is something familiar that many teens experience to channel their emotions and energy while growing up. Dena Guber famously ran away from home several times, causing a lot of pain to her parents, especially her mother.
It was running away from home as a way of escapism. Later on, Dena Guber revealed she didn’t fit into her mother’s world, and at the time, running away felt good to her, as she thought it would solve her problems.
The runaway was often filled with drug abuse and an attempt to escape from the spotlights. At 15, Jackie disappeared for a whole month and got back home after hitching a ride with a man, who contacted Walters to inform the whereabouts of her 15-years-old daughter.
TV journalist Barbara Walters and daughter Jacqueline Guber attend the Sixth Annual Television Academy Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on January 7, 1990, at 20th Century Fox Studios in Century City, California.
The former journalist picked her daughter and sent her to a rehab facility in Idaho, where she stayed for three years. During this period, she graduated from high school and her father Lee passed away from cancer.
Years later, as a reformed drug addict, Dena Guber founded an intervention program for young women and clinical therapy to help them treat addiction issues, called New Horizons. The program, however, shut down in 2008 after many years of success.
TV journalist Barbara Walters and daughter Jacqueline Guber attend Michael Douglas’ 55th Birthday and Catherine Zeta-Jones’ 30th Birthday Party on September 25, 1999, at Club 151 in New York City.
In 2003, Dena Guber spoke candidly about her experience of drug abuse as a teen. She said she used different types of drugs such as marijuana and methamphetamines:
“’But it didn’t take away the issues that I had. They got bigger and bigger. I was more and more isolated from my mom’s world.”
Dena Guber tried her whole life to stay away from the spotlights; that’s why she adopted her father’s name instead of Walters. In her effort to make her life private, it’s hard to find information about her.
Barbara Walters attends TIME 100 Gala, TIME’s 100 Most Influential People In The World at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 21, 2015.
We know that she got married twice. Her first husband, Mark Danforth, used her former husband’s surname for years and is also known in the media as Jackie Danforth, apparently didn’t last long.
In 1995, Dan Geber married Scott Pontius in private. This ceremony was attended only by close friends and family. The marriage lasted ten years.
Walters’ only daughter stepped into the spotlight in 2019 amid her mother’s health woes — she hasn’t been seen since 2013 after making the headlines for being arrested for DUI in Florida. After paying $1,000 bail, she was released. Source: Getty Images A close source revealed that mother and daughter are extremely close now since Walters’ health is deteriorating fast.
Barbara Walters signed copies of her book Audition: A Memoir at Barnes & Noble, Lincoln Square on May 6, 2008, in New York City.
A close source revealed that mother and daughter are extremely close now since Walters’ health is deteriorating fast. According to the same source, they share their pasts, discuss what went wrong, and find comfort in each other.
Barbara Walters is 92 years of age, and her health is not stable. In the past few years, the former news anchor has struggled with dementia. She was forced to retire from the media spotlight.
Unfortunately, Barbara Walters stories are rare these days. Fans continue to wish Barbara Walters all the best despite her declining health and grave health issues. Amo Mama wishes Barbara Walters every success!
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