Real-Life Love
A Deep Dive Into Barbara Walters’ Husbands, Her Secret Affair & Dating History
Barbara Walters had a fascinating life, on and off camera. She became a broadcast journalism icon, hosting news programs such as ABC Evening News, 20/20, and The View throughout her decades-long career.
While she focused on her subjects when the cameras were rolling, Walters had a riveting romantic history. From multiple marriages to a secret affair to dating Roy Cohn (yes, that Roy Cohn), Walters was just as interesting as the people she interviewed. With the new Hulu documentary, Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything, out now, scroll down to learn more about her relationship history through the years.
How many times was Barbara Walters married?
Walters was married three times. The journalist was honest with herself about her failed marriages. “I don’t think I was very good at marriage,” she said in her 2014 ABC News special. “It may be that my career was just too important. It may have been that I was a difficult person to be married to, and I wasn’t willing perhaps to give that much. But through it all there was this career I felt I needed to have, and I loved it.”
Who were Barbara Walters’ husbands?
Walters’ first husband was business executive Robert Henry Katz. They married in 1955 at The Plaza Hotel in New York City. She was candid in her memoir, Audition, that she wasn’t in love with Katz and they had “nothing in common.” They split after three years.
Her second marriage was to theater producer Lee Guber. They married in 1963 and divorced in 1976. Her third husband was Lorimar Television CEO Merv Adelson. They met in 1984 on a blind date. They married in 1986. “I didn’t even have a dress. I borrowed one from a friend, swallowed a Valium (which I never take), and more or less zonked my way through the wedding,” she wrote in her memoir. They separated in 1990 and divorced two years later. She never married again.
Did Barbara Walters date Roy Cohn?
Yes, briefly. Walters dated the controversial lawyer and “fixer” Roy Cohn, who famously represented Donald Trump, in her early 40s after turning him down several times due to his reputation during the McCarthy era.
“I really didn’t know that Roy was homosexual, though I had heard the rumors about his sexual orientation during the Army-McCarthy hearings,” Walters wrote in Audition.
HBO / Everett Collection
She revealed that Cohn asked her to marry him “from time to time over the years.” She added, “I think he thought he should be married. Plus he liked children, and he obviously liked me, so why not marry? Of course I never seriously considered it. But I became Roy’s claim to heterosexuality.” Walters also held a soft spot for Cohn because he helped her father out of a legal situation.
Did Barbara Walters have an affair?
Yes, Walters started having a “long and rocky affair” with Massachusetts Senator Edward W. Brooke in 1973. “Ed Brooke was simply the most attractive, sexiest, funniest, charming, and impossible man,” Walters wrote in her memoir. Brooke was married at the time, but he eventually asked his wife for a divorce.
Not wanting to risk ruining his political career or her journalism career, they agreed to stop seeing each other. “I missed him terribly at first. He had been so much a part of my life and my fantasies. However, the truth is that after the years of hiding, it was also a relief,” she wrote.
Did Barbara Walters have children?
Yes, Walters had a daughter, Jacqueline Dena Guber. After three miscarriages, Walters and her then-husband Lee Guber adopted Jacqueline in 1968.
Walters’ relationship with her daughter was complicated at times. When Jacqueline was 16, she ran away from home. Walters had a former Green Beret pick her daughter up and then sent her to an intervention program in Idaho for three years, which Jacqueline credits with saving her life.
“Even though she, you know, probably kicked and screamed, she knew that things were getting so desperate, she had to go,” Walters told NBC in 2002. “But to send a child away is heartbreaking … I just knew that for this child, who was struggling enough to be her own person and not be Barbara Walter’s daughter, to have this be headlines. I could have lived with it, okay. You know? But it would have been terrible for her.”
