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Barbara Walters’ lingering regrets over her strained relationship with her daughter has been revealed in a heartbreaking new documentary.
The broadcast icon, who died in 2022 at the age of 93, is the focus of the new Hulu film, Barbara Walters Tell Me Everything – which explores the star’s rise to fame as she balanced motherhood and her career.
Walters was ‘regretful about her family life’ and ‘strained relationship’ with her adopted daughter Jackie, longtime friend and colleague Cynthia McFadden, 69, told People ahead of the film’s release.
‘It was something she felt like she couldn’t fix. So that was really tugging at her,’ the former NBC News correspondent said.
Walters, who began her network career as a Today show correspondent, made history as the first woman to anchor a nightly news broadcast in 1976 on ABC Evening News, sharing the desk with Harry Reasoner.
In 1979, she began co-anchoring the weekly news magazine 20/20, developing a knack for interviewing celebrities, which resulted in her occasional specials.
Barbara Walters ‘ lingering regrets over balancing motherhood and her career have been revealed in a heartbreaking new documentary; Pictured in New York City in April 2015
Like many women, Walters struggled to balance work and family after adopting her daughter, Jackie, with her former husband Lee Gruber in 1968; Pictured in New York City in September 1999
What many fans didn’t know was that Walters had adopted her daughter, Jackie, in 1968 with her second husband, Lee Gruber. The couple divorced in 1976.
Archival footage in the documentary shows Walters speaking about the excitement of being a mother. ‘My world came together. I mean, I was already on the Today Show. And I’d had three miscarriages, and now I had everything.’
But her success at work meant time away from her family.
‘Barbara was always flying somewhere, interviewing someone,’ McFadden told the outlet. ‘And it’s not like she could have brought her young daughter along for the ride.’
Another clip reveals the challenges Walters faced. ‘Today, people are more accepting. You can bring your kid to the office. In those days, if I had brought Jackie into the studio, it would be as if I had bought a dog who was not housebroken,” she could be heard saying in the film.
Mother and daughter were very different from each other. Walters seemed to be disappointed Jackie didn’t share her professional drive, according to her friend, while Jackie had her own struggles, including drug use.
‘It was a struggle. That’s not to say they didn’t love each other, but it wasn’t what she’d hoped for, and probably not what Jackie had hoped for either,’ McFadden asserted.
Walters helped break the glass ceiling for women in journalist, becoming a Today Show contributor in 1962; Pictured in New York City circa 1964
She later made history as the first woman to anchor a nightly news broadcast in 1976 on ABC Evening News, sharing the desk with Harry Reasoner; Pictured in September 1976
Mother and daughter struggled with their relationship, according to Walters’ longtime friend and colleague Cynthia McFadden; Pictured in Los Angeles in January 1990
‘I think it’s important to say that Jackie shouldn’t be held accountable for any of this, and Barbara wouldn’t have wanted her to be… Jackie is a delightful person,’ McFadden said
Winfrey recalled how the media mogul had actually encouraged her to have kids and stated, ‘I remember her telling me once that there’s nothing more fulfilling than having children, and “You should really think about it”‘; seen in 1999
‘I think it’s important to say that Jackie shouldn’t be held accountable for any of this, and Barbara wouldn’t have wanted her to be. I think this was really on the adult side of the equation here. Jackie is a delightful person,’ she said.
McFadden, who is adopted herself, produced a segment on adoption and asked Jackie which was more difficult, ‘being adopted or being Barbara Walters’s daughter?’
‘Being Barbara Walters’s daughter.,’ was her immediate reply.
The film’s director, Jackie Jesko, told People she doesn’t want Walters’ struggles at home to overshadow her successes. Barbara Walters Tell Me Everything debuts on Hulu June 23.
Oprah Winfrey recalled how the media mogul had actually encouraged her to have kids and stated, ‘I remember her telling me once that there’s nothing more fulfilling than having children, and “You should really think about it.”
‘And I was like, “Okay, but I’m looking at you, so, no,”‘ the former talk show host continued.
Oprah also described Barbara’s relationship with her daughter as both ‘complex’ and ‘charged’ – adding that it was ‘one of the reasons why I never had children.’
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