Barbara Walters admits affair with US senator
NEW YORK (AP) -May 1, 2008 Appearing on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" scheduled to air
Tuesday, Walters shares details of her relationship with Brooke
that lasted several years in the 1970s, according to a transcript
of the show provided to The Associated Press.
A moderate Republican from Massachusetts who took office in
1967, Brooke was the first African-American to be popularly elected
to the Senate. Both he and Walters knew that public knowledge of
their affair could have ruined his career as well as hers, Walters
says.
At the time, the twice-divorced Walters was a rising star in TV
news and co-host of NBC's "Today" show, but would soon jump to
ABC News, where she has enjoyed unrivaled success. Her affair with
Brooke, which never before came to light, had ended before he lost
his bid for a third term in 1978.
Brooke later divorced, and has since remarried. Calls to a
listing for Brooke in Miami by The Associated Press were not
immediately returned Thursday.
Walters is the guest of Oprah Winfrey to discuss her new memoir,
"Audition," which covers her long career in television, as well
as her off-camera life. On "Oprah," Walters recounts a phone call
from a friend who urged her to stop seeing Brooke.
"He said, 'This is going to come out. This is going to ruin
your career,"' then reminded her that Brooke was up for
re-election a year later. "'This is going to ruin him. You've got
to break this off."'
Winfrey asks Walters if she was in love.
"I was certainly - I don't know - I was certainly infatuated."
"Infatuated."
"I was certainly involved," Walters says. "He was exciting.
He was brilliant. It was exciting times in Washington."
Also during the program, Walters chokes up while describing the
struggles of her older sister Jackie, who was mentally retarded.
Walters confesses that, as a child, she sometimes felt embarrassed
by Jackie.
"She stuttered terribly. People made fun of her. People made
fun of me," Walters says. "I didn't bring friends home. I felt
terribly guilty because she was very loving and I didn't always
feel that way."
Jackie Walters died in 1985 of ovarian cancer.
"When I think of her, because she was beautiful and loving and
all of that, it makes me cry."