Barbara Walters’ career as a television icon spanned decades — and so did her love life.
In addition to making headlines for her countless contributions to TV and breaking barriers for women everywhere, the see The creator – who died in December 2022 at the age of 93 – was also known for three marriages and an active dating life.
Walters began her career in the 1950s, a decade in which she also had her first marriage, marrying Robert Henry Katz in 1955 (and divorcing two years later). As he worked his way through the ranks of television journalism, the 20/20 alum married theater producer Lee Guber, whom she was married to from 1963 to 1975. In 1968, the couple adopted their daughter, Jacqueline. (Walters also credits his friend – and later beau – Roy Cohn with helping the couple with Jackie’s adoption.)
Six years after her divorce from Katz, the Boston native exchanged vows with her third husband, Lorimar producer Merv Adelson. Although the couple’s first union lasted only from 1981 to 1984, they tried to get married a second time in 1986. But the relationship did not work out, and the two separated in 1992.
In addition to her three marriages, Walters had a notorious two-year affair with Senator Edward Brooke in the 70s, a scandal she later acknowledged in her 2008 memoir, Audition. The romance made headlines not only because of its scandalous nature, but also because it involved an interracial relationship during a particularly difficult time for race relations in America, Walters wrote in her book.
“I have a daughter to think about and a network that is less than happy to see me involved in any scandal. Nothing is important to me,” the late TV anchor wrote in her memoirs, revealing that the two ended their romance because it would ruin their careers.
Walters continues to this day many famous people in Washington, including the former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan and former Senator John Warner, who is one of Elizabeth Taylor’s ex-husbands.
One A-lister Walters regrets ever dating, however, is Clint Eastwood. He was interviewed Escape From Alcatraz actor in 1982, during which “he was very flirtatious, and I was very taken [with him]”he recalled in a 2008 interview with Jimmy Fallon. “He asked if I wanted dinner, and I said, ‘No, I have to work.’ You know, I don’t mix business with pleasure. Although Walters later ran into it Dirty Harry star on the red carpet, she has missed her chance, she told Fallon. “I might be Mrs. Clint Eastwood!” she bemoaned at the time.
Keep scrolling for Walters’ extensive dating history over the years:
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Barbara Walters’ Dating History: Merv Adelson, Senator Edward Brooke and more
Barbara Walters’ career as a television icon spanned decades — and so did her love life. In addition to making headlines for her countless contributions to TV and breaking barriers for women everywhere, the see The creator – who died in December 2022 at the age of 93 – was also known for three marriages and an active dating life. Walters began her career in the 1950s, a decade in which she also had her first marriage, marrying Robert Henry Katz in 1955 (and divorcing two years later). As he worked his way through the ranks of television journalism, the 20/20 alum married theater producer Lee Guber, whom she was married to from 1963 to 1975. In 1968, the couple adopted their daughter, Jacqueline. (Walters also credited his friend – and later beau – Roy Cohn with helping the couple with Jackie’s adoption.) Six years after Katz’s divorce, the Boston native exchanged vows with her third husband, Lorimar producer Merv Adelson. Although the couple’s first union lasted only from 1981 to 1984, they tried to get married a second time in 1986. But the relationship did not work out, and the two separated in 1992.
[jwplayer 1mfpq58C-zhNYySv2]In addition to her three marriages, Walters had a notorious two-year affair with Senator Edward Brooke in the 70s, a scandal she later acknowledged in her 2008 memoir, Audition. The romance made headlines not only because of its scandalous nature, but also because it involved an interracial relationship during a particularly difficult time for race relations in America, Walters wrote in her book. “I have a daughter to think about and a network that will be less than happy to see me involved in any kind of scandal. Nothing is important to me,” said the late TV anchor in her memoirs, revealing that the two finally ended the romance because it would ruin his career. Alan Greenspan and former Senator John Warner, who is one of Elizabeth Taylor’s ex-husbands. One A-lister Walters regrets ever dating, however, is Clint Eastwood. He was interviewed Escape From Alcatraz actor in 1982, during which “he was very flirtatious, and I was very taken [with him]”he recalled in a 2008 interview with Jimmy Fallon. “He asked if I wanted dinner, and I said, ‘No, I have to work.’ You know, I don’t mix business with pleasure.” Although Walters later ran into it Dirty Harry star on the red carpet, she has missed her chance, she told Fallon. “I might be Mrs. Clint Eastwood!” she bemoaned at the time. Keep scrolling for Walters’ extensive dating history over the years:
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Robert Henry Katz
Katz was Walters’ first wife; the two tied the knot in 1955 before divorcing two years later.
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Roy Cohn
Although Cohn claimed to have proposed to Walters the night before she married her second husband, Guber, in 1963, 20/20 alum denied the story. However, the two remained lifelong friends, and dated briefly in the 90s.
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Lee Guber
The television icon was married to Guber from 1963 to 1976. After Walters suffered three miscarriages, two children were adopted by Jacqueline in 1968. Years after her troubled childhood, Jacqueline – and Walters – opened up about the difficulties she faced as a child, including one. it happened when he ran away from home as a teenager.
“I was very busy with my career,” Walters later admitted in her TV special, Barbara Walters: Her Story. “It’s an age-old problem. And, you know, in your bed, would you say, ‘I wish I spent more time at the office?’ Not. You’ll say, ‘I wish I spent more time with my family,’ and I feel that way. I want to spend more time with Jackie.
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Edward Brooke
Walters actually had an affair with the senator in the ’70s, he wrote Audition. The tryst almost cost both Walters and Brooke career, he later revealed in an interview while promoting the book. A friend called the TV pioneer and told him, “’It’s coming out. It’s going to ruin your career,'” he recalled, “‘It’s going to ruin his. You’ve got to get rid of this.'”
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Merv Adelson
Walters married — and divorced — her third husband twice in the ’80s. The couple was first married from 1981 to 1984, and tried to get another marriage from 1986 to 1992. The union did not last.
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Alan Greenspan
At see alum dated the former Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Although her relationship with Greenspan overlapped with her romance with Alan Greenberg, the two remained on good terms. He later attended Greenspan’s 1997 wedding with the MSNBC icon Andrea Mitchell.
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Alan Greenberg
Walters revealed in her 2008 memoir that she dated Greenberg while she was with Greenspan. The men’s names were so similar, she wrote, that her housekeeper couldn’t keep track of them.
“When they give me the message, I can only ask, which one is louder?” he wrote in a book. “Alan Greenberg … spoke in a normal tone. Alan Greenspan was very soft. He was almost whispering. And that’s how I would know if it was Greenspan or Greenberg.
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John Warner
The reporter dated Warner, one of Elizabeth Taylor’s eight husbands, in the late ’90s, even teasing his relationship with the former senator on The View in 1999. The two later split. Warner died in 2021.