Tell Some or Tell All
Posted by Cathy at 5/9/2008 12:02 AM and is filed under uncategorized 
I have always respected Barbara Walters. For me she has always appeared fair and trustworthy as a journalist and reached levels of unrivaled success in her field.
I enjoyed her on 20/20, however I do not watch her daily show, The View.
Currently, I'm not feeling the love.
Barbara, why are you spilling your guts about a secret affair you had many years ago with Senator Edward Brooks?
Did you hold on to this information your whole life knowing you would write your autobiography at age 78?
Senator Brooks is now 88 years old and has since divorced the wife he was married to when the affair occurred. He is currently married to someone else.
Did he know you were going to open this can of worms? Was it necessary?
I have to say I am disappointed if this was a tactic used to ramp up sales of your book, not a judgment on having the affair.
If anyone has had an amazing life to write about, it's you. To throw in these details for media attention seems gratuitous. I would have bought your memoir anyway.
Was it necessary to include the affair for a true autobiographical account? Or could it just have been left out?
What do you think?
I really hate the way politions make money off their memories! There should be an extra special tax just for them!
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No, that doesn't seem necessary. It also seems a little tacky to have named him. Name dropping to the extreme. She could have talked about the affair, discussing what it had meant to her during that time of her life and what she was thinking and feeling to have had an affair with a married man without telling who the affair was. I certainly hope she got his consent. Then again, the bastard cheated on his wife. What consideration does he deserve?
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I'm a little perplexed about it myself. It undermines her as a person, not the affair, but the revelation. It's untimely and unnecessary. But unfortunately it would seem this is how the famous roll, scandals sell. Kinda sad, if you ask me.
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It's funny that you should bring this up because my husband and I were talking about it last night. I too wonder if she has brought it to light so she could sell more books. In the end I said to my husband "Does she not realize she just admitted that she is a stank hoe? Because that's what a woman is when she sleeps with another woman's husband."
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Although she's been very successful in her career, I don't think sleeping with another woman's husband makes her successful as a woman... or even more interesting. Why would I buy this book when I can watch reruns of Maury Povitch for the same type of info.
If she was looking for emphathy, she struck a wrong chord in me....
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Ick. The public sphere really brings the worst out of some people, particularly those who have been in it for a while. They lose to ability to differentiate between what should be kept private and what should bepublicized. They forget that more attention isn't always better. It's like, honey, don't try to compete with Britney Spears for tabloid headlines. Please.
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I was very surprised that she did this. It doesn't seem like her at all. I think she came out with all the information before the media read it to head them off at the pass. Maybe she shouldn't have wrote the book.
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I've never given her much attention, and I won't now either.
She should have kept it to herself...
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I am with "Jenni in KS", I think it is essential that she recount that moment in her life, so that we the viewer get a deeper meaning to who she actually was/is. I mean after all, it is kind of amazing to see someone who is portrayed as a lady of class...stoop to such unbelievable lows. Which I am sure, in some ways gave her (more) strength to become the heavy weight contender she is today.
Now affairs in general, just tick me off in the worst ways. Men can be dogs…this is true, a real man owns up to his vows…no matter the temptation, a real man leads by example and sets forth a path for his children to walk upon with ease. I have never understood why women would do something like that to one another, of all the things we must endure…it always seemed to me that women would want to band together, in a sisterly fashion. It has always felt like a slap in the face, when I hear of a woman having an affair…how can we be so selfish? All I know is, that it takes a special kind of woman to do such a thing…one with little character and most definitely very little class.
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I agree. She could have spoken about the affair, how it affected her life at the time, etc. Naming names serves no purpose at this time in her (or his) life.
Barbara's not an idiot. She knows that feuds on The View equal more ratings, and she knows that trash talking is going to up her book sales. Which she was respectable enough to get anyway. Now she's just like every other kiss and tell chick.
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The whole thing has destroyed my image of Barbara Walters. Not the affair. I'm old enough to understand that these things happen. But naming names was, for lack of a better word, tacky. I'm not crazy about the whole Star Jones revelations either. It feels like she is sinking to Star's level by responding to the attacks.
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Controversy sells. It is simply more interesting. I would not be the last bit surprised if while writing the book Walters was told that it is too boring and required a "saucy" story - upon which she responded you mean like an affair that I had...
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Yep... My image of Baba Wawa just sunk a few thousand degrees.... It's too bad... we all want to know about her challenges of climbing the ladder in a man's world, not about the bed she climbed into...
Cheese wiz... She should have saved it for the confessional, in private.. not all of us!
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The sad thing is that the publicist/editors/ whoever stands to make more $$ by sensationalizing Barbara probably convinced her that this would have to be "told". It's sad that an affair has become such a $$ maker. I'm so tired of society being so accepting of immorality. If the president can get away with it, well why not me?
Ugghhh...
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i think that i try not to think very much about barbara walters. i didn't even know about this until i came here!
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I agree! Plus, she's been on Oprah and a few other shows talking about her affair...who would even think about reading the book now? And she needs to stop hating on Star Jones!
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I'd have to agree that its pretty shameful to dig up dirt. Let's be honest - without this 'media revelation' how many out there would have cared to buy/read Barbara Walters' autobiography? Probably not a ton.
I also feel bad for his ex-wife. Even though they're not married anymore, its not something you want to hear about your past...especially so many years after it happened.
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At least change the names to protect the innocent. Can you imagine the embarrassment felt by both his ex and his present wives? It really is unfair to them.
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I'm with you. I would have bought the book anyway, and I don't really care about any affair she may have had.
In fact, I REALLY don't want to think about Barbara Walters doing the nasty- with anyone.
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I wanted to get the book, but feel like we've heard all the stuff anyway. It makes her seem cheap in my eyes.
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I don't think she should have named names. One can still clear their heart & head via autobiography without hurting others in the process.
I never did care much for her, now I care even less.
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Senator Brooke's marriage was on the rocks in the early '70's, maybe even earlier. On our first trip to St. Maarten in 1978 we took a boat tour around the island and the boat owner pointed out Sen. Brooke's house, it was on a small hill overlooking what I think was Friar's Bay, a very secluded beach. The tour operator (a real gossip) told us that Sen. Brooke had just won the house in his divorce settlement & was seeing Anne Fleming of the very prominent Fleming family on the island. A few days later my husband & I drove over to Friar's Bay and, under the watchful eyes of Sen Brooke's surveillance equipment, enjoyed several hours alone on the beach.
I believe his marriage was over when he had the affair with Barbara and I don't object to her naming names. Also, there was gossip about it in DC in the '70's, the reason they ended the affair.
I don't see that naming names will hurt anyone, his ex-wife has died and he has been married to Anne Fleming (an affairee herself) for almost 30 years.
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I totally agree. Did you see the View today? They were all shamelessly plugging the book. It made me want to puke!
(And thanks for the b-day wishes!
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Yeah, I saw her on Oprah and wondered WTF? Why is this front and centre? Why after all these years is it significant to purge your secrets. The daughter thing - I got - the senator thing, I didn't.
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Just to stray from the sordid news of the affair, I think it was hypocritical of Walters to blast Star Jones on Oprah for wanting to keep her Gastric Bypass a secret, while it is very apparent to me that Walters has had at least one face lift that I have never heard her speak of. (Just for the record I am no fan of Star Jones either) Secondly, Oprah's interview was so lame, because Walters has led such an interesting life, and the majority of the time they spoke about Star Jones, Rosie O'Donnell, and the "affair."
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I'm such a private person I just can't imagine sharing it all in a book.
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Barbara Walters did not just have an affair with one married man, but 3 different married men,Senator John Warner (Liz Taylors ex) being one of them also. As she sat with Monica Lewinsky grilling her about being with a married Bill Clinton,she had that smug intolerant tone in her questioning.She berated Lewinsky about not thinking of Clinton's wife feelings. How's that for the pot calling the kettle whore?
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I have to say that I agree with you. I have lost a bit of respect for her bringing this out at this time, when it will help no one but hurt many by the time it's all over. It was unnecessary and ill-timed. Out of any feeling of decency or regard for someone she professed to have loved long ago, Barbara Walters should have kept that secret exactly that---a secret. I thought she had more class than to participate in a cheap stunt like that.
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didn't need it...
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