Barbara Walters was pushed out of her seat on The View, friend says
‘They’re making me quit’: Barbara Walters’ friend Lisa Ling says late TV icon was muscled out of her seat on The View
- Walters died at 93 this past December at her New York City home
- Ling said Walters made the reveal on her last day of filming in May 2014
- Walters created the show in 1997 and served as host and producer until 2014
The late Barbara Walters was muscled out of her seat on The View – the show she created – in 2014, according to her friend Lisa Ling.
Ling, 49, speaking with The Cut Monday, said that Walters – who died at 93 this past December – made the revelation to her on her last day filming the ABC chat roundtable in 2014.
Ling, who is currently a reporter for CNN, told the outlet that she had ‘never shared this [information] with anyone.’
Ling said that on the last day of filming, she said to Walters off-camera of her looming retirement, ‘Barbara, in a couple of months, are you going to be lounging in a hammock in Tahiti?’
Ling said Walters responded to her in a whisper, ‘They’re making me quit.’
The late Barbara Walters was muscled out of her seat on The View – the show she created – in 2014, according to her friend Lisa Ling
Walters, who passed away at her New York City home December 30, created the ABC staple in 1997, and served as host and producer until 2014.
The View was the culmination of an unparalleled career in media for the trailblazer Walters, who in 1976 became the first female anchor on an evening news show, for ABC.
She subsequently began hosting the network news staple 20/20 in 1979, appearing on the news magazine until 2004.
Despite the allegedly acrimonious circumstances behind her parting from the ABC series, the broadcast journalism icon was hailed on her final show in May 2014 by an ensemble of the brightest stars in the news business.
They included Ling, Oprah Winfrey, Robin Roberts, Katie Couric, Connie Chung and Hoda Kotb, among others.
Winfrey said, ‘I had to be here for your last show, to celebrate you, because of what you have meant to me. You have literally meant the world to me.
‘Like everyone else, I want to thank you for being a pioneer and everything that word means. It means being the first; the first in the room to knock down the door, to break down the barriers, to pave the road that we all walk on. I thank you for that. And I thank you for the courage it took every day to get up and keep doing it.’
Walters said in response to the tribute, ‘This is my legacy. These are my legacy. And I thank you all.’
Walters, who passed away at her New York City home December 30, created the ABC staple in 1997, and served as host and producer until 2014
Ling, a reporter for CNN , told the outlet that she had ‘never shared this [information] with anyone’ about the icon’s revelation to her. Pictured last month in Austin, Texas
Walters was seen chatting with President Joe Biden on the show in 2014 ahead of her departure from the show
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