Sherri Shepherd Alleges that Barbara Walters and Richard Pryor’s Hidden Affair Came to Light When Paul Mooney Unexpectedly Stumbled Upon Them Engaged in Intimacy

Barbara Walters had a secret fling with comedian Richard Pryor, Sherri Shepherd has claimed. 

Iconic journalist Walters – who died on December 30 2022 aged 93, allegedly had her steamy romance with Pryor exposed when comedian Paul Mooney walked in on the pair having sex, Shepherd claimed on Wednesday’s episode of Sherri.

During a chat with former The View co-star Joy Behar, 81, Shepherd said: ‘The thing about you is I would tell you stuff and you would go and tell it.

‘I told you I had run into Paul Mooney, Paul Mooney has said he caught Barbara Walters with Richard Pryor’ before adding Mooney had confirmed Walters slept with Pryor.

‘And I came back and was like “Joy, guess what! Dont tell nobody!”

Oh my! Barbara Walters had a secret fling with comedian Richard Pryor, Sherri Shepherd has claimed (pictured 1980)

Tragic loss: Iconic journalist Walters  died on December 30 2022 aged 93

Revealing Mooney had claimed to have seen the pair romping, Shepherd told a shocked Behar: ‘Paul Mooney said he walked in on them, he walked in on them. That’s what he said he looked through the door and… don’t act like you don’t remember!

‘And I said: “Joy, don’t tell nobody.’

‘The next day, Barbara walks in and you say “So you’re schlepping Richard Pryor, huh?

‘Barbara’s head swiveled like that and she said “who told you that?!”  and I’m sitting there, like I had just got this job.

‘You do that because you’re not scared of Barbara.’

Shepherd added that Behar had a type and said: ‘She was going out with a black senator [Edward Brooke] which she talked about in her book, Audition. Colin Powell was her crush.’

It is not known when Walters and Pryor dated – the journalist interviewed him several times in the 1970s and 1980s. 

Walters previously spoke about interviewing Pryor four times in a 2002 chat with Oprah, saying: ‘He’s fascinating because he’s more than a comedian. I interviewed him four times. 

Revelation: Walters allegedly had her steamy romance with Pryor exposed when comedian Paul Mooney (pictured 2015) walked in on the pair having sex

Fling: Shepherd said Behar asked Walters: “So you’re schlepping Richard Pryor, huh? ‘Barbara’s head swiveled like that and she said “who told you that?!” (Walters and Pryor pictured 1980)

‘The second time was after he’d set himself on fire. The third was when he admitted to me that he’d set himself on fire. I’m touched by Richard Pryor because I saw this brilliant man self-destruct.’

Pryor, who died aged 65 in 2005, is known as one of the greatest stand-up comedians of all time, and a notorious lothario, fathering seven children by six different women.

He was married seven times to five different women. 

He famously had a fling with Marlon Brando – with the tryst first revealed in 2018 by legendary music producer Quincy Jones, who said the Godfather star would ‘f**k anything’. 

Pryor’s widow Jennifer Lee also revealed he was open with his friends about his bisexuality. 

Freebasing cocaine one night in June 1980, while watching on television a Buddhist monk immolate himself in protest to the Vietnam War, Pryor poured hard liquor over his own body and flicked his Bic lighter.

The flames reached up to his head and he bolted out onto the street.

His polyester shirt had melted onto his scorched flesh and was in shock when the ambulance arrived to take him to the burn unit of Sherman Oaks Community Hospital.

Former fling: Shepherd added that Behar had a type and said: ‘She was going out with a black senator [Edward Brooke] which she talked about in her book, Audition’ (Brooke is pictured in 1978)

Burns covered more than half his body and he spent six weeks in recovery at Hospital.

Six years later, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a degenerative disease of the nervous system.

By 1991, his life was reduced to his bedroom in a rented mansion in Bel Air, high above the west side of Los Angeles.

Clutching a .357 Magnum, he was afraid to move he was so emaciated and frail.

He asked Jennifer Lee to come back and see him through to the end.

On December 10, 2005, at 65, he suffered a fatal heart attack.

Walters made headlines in 1976 when she joined ABC News as the first female network news anchor for an evening news program, with an unprecedented $1 million salary. She became a co-host of ’20/20,’ and in 1997, launched ‘The View.’ 

‘She lived her life with no regrets. She was a trailblazer not only for female journalists, but for all women,’ her publicist Cindi Berger said in a statement.

Icon: Pryor, who died aged 65 in 2005, is known as one of the greatest stand-up comedians of all time, and a notorious lothario, fathering seven children by six different women

Frail: On December 10, 2005, at 65, he suffered a fatal heart attack after a battle with MS (pictured 1999 with Mooney)

Her drive was legendary as she competed – not just with rival networks, but with colleagues at her own network – for each big ‘get’ in a world jammed with more and more interviewers, including female journalists following in her trail.

‘Barbara was a true legend, a pioneer not just for women in journalism but for journalism itself. She was a one-of-a-kind reporter who landed many of the most important interviews of our time, from heads of state to the biggest celebrities and sports icons,’ Iger said in a statement Friday.

‘I had the pleasure of calling Barbara a colleague for more than three decades, but more importantly, I was able to call her a dear friend. She will be missed by all of us at The Walt Disney Company, and we send our deepest condolences to her daughter, Jacqueline.’

During nearly four decades at ABC, and before that at NBC, Walters’ exclusive interviews with rulers, royalty and entertainers brought her celebrity status that ranked with theirs, while placing her at the forefront of the trend that made stars of TV reporters.

Late in her career, she gave infotainment a new twist with ‘The View,’ a live ABC weekday kaffee klatsch with an all-female panel for whom any topic was on the table and who welcomed guests ranging from world leaders to teen idols. With that side venture and unexpected hit, Walters considered ‘The View’ the ‘dessert’ of her career.

Along with Bob Iger, big names such as Oprah, Sir Anthony Hopkins, and Dan Rather paid heartfelt tributes to the TV icon.