‘I knew I could not do both well’

Barbara Walters and Oprah Winfrey were not just television icons but close friends who shared a unique bond as pioneering women in broadcast journalism.

In a revealing new Hulu documentary titled ‘Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything,’ Oprah opens up about how Walters’ personal experiences in motherhood influenced her own decision not to have children.

While speaking about her late friend, Oprah admitted that watching Barbara’s “complex” and often difficult relationship with her adopted daughter Jacqueline was “one of the reasons why I never had children.”

Walters, who adopted Jacqueline with her second husband Lee Guber in 1968 after suffering multiple miscarriages, once told Oprah, “There’s nothing more fulfilling than having children, and you should really think about it.”

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Oprah recalled the conversation. “And I was like, ‘Okay, but I’m looking at you, so, no.’” Barbara Walters’ relationship with Jacqueline was known to be complicated. The two had a “charged” dynamic that included teenage rebellion, drug struggles, and a painful period when Jacqueline ran away from home for a month. 

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Jacqueline was later sent to a boarding school for troubled youth, which helped her turn her life around. Meanwhile, Oprah praised Barbara for managing to maintain a successful career in journalism while raising her daughter, calling her “a pioneer in your field” and recognizing the sacrifice.

“You are a pioneer in your field and you are trying to break the mold, for yourself and for women who are going to follow you. Something’s going to have to give for that,” she said. “And that is why I did not have children. I knew I could not do both well.”

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She continued, “Both are sacrifices. Sacrifice to do the work and it’s also sacrifice to be the mother and to say, ‘No, let somebody else have that.’” Despite the decision, Oprah noted that Barbara never shied away from her responsibilities.

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“Without Barbara Walters, there wouldn’t have been me — nor any other woman you see on evening, morning, and daily news,” Oprah said in a heartfelt tribute at the time of Walters’ passing.“She was indeed a Trailblazer. I did my very first television audition with her in mind the whole time,” Oprah recalled.