TORONTO — She has interviewed world leaders, newsmakers, celebrities — and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles — during a career that has lasted more than half a century. On Monday, Barbara Walters will announce she’s retiring.
Walters, 84, will step down from her co-host job at The View next summer.
“I am very happy with my decision and look forward to a wonderful and special year ahead both on The View and with ABC News,” she said in a statement released Sunday. ” I created The View and am delighted it will last beyond my leaving it.”
Rumours of Walters’ retirement have swirled for months, particularly when she was hospitalized after falling and hitting her head (she was later diagnosed with chicken pox). Walters also had open-heart surgery in 2010.
Walters started her career in 1961 as a researcher for Today and worked her way on air as a reporter. In 1976, she joined Harry Reasoner on the ABC Evening News — making her the first woman to host an evening newscast. Walters co-hosted 20/20 from 1979 to 2004 and produced Oscar-night specials. She created The View in 1997.
Walters’ biography Audition: A Memoir was published in 2008.
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