Barbara Walters Admits Affair With Senator

NEW YORK — After three decades of keeping mum, Barbara Walters now says she had a past affair with married U.S. Senator Edward Brooke, whom she remembers as "exciting" and "brilliant."

Appearing on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" scheduled to air Tuesday, Walters shares details of her relationship with Brooke that lasted several years in the 1970s, according to a transcript of the show provided to The Associated Press.

A moderate Republican from Massachusetts who took office in 1967, Brooke was the first African-American to be popularly elected to the Senate. Both he and Walters knew that public knowledge of their affair could have ruined his career as well as hers, Walters says.

At the time, the twice-divorced Walters was a rising star in TV news and co-host of NBC's "Today" show, but would soon jump to ABC News, where she has enjoyed unrivaled success. Her affair with Brooke, which never before came to light, had ended before he lost his bid for a third term in 1978.

Brooke later divorced, and has since remarried. Calls to a listing for Brooke in Miami by The Associated Press were not immediately returned Thursday.

Walters is the guest of Oprah Winfrey to discuss her new memoir, "Audition," which covers her long career in television, as well as her off-camera life. On "Oprah," Walters recounts a phone call from a friend who urged her to stop seeing Brooke.

"He said, 'This is going to come out. This is going to ruin your career,'" then reminded her that Brooke was up for re-election a year later. "'This is going to ruin him. You've got to break this off.'"

Winfrey asks Walters if she was in love.

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"I was certainly _ I don't know _ I was certainly infatuated."

"Infatuated."

"I was certainly involved," Walters says. "He was exciting. He was brilliant. It was exciting times in Washington."

Also during the program, Walters chokes up while describing the struggles of her older sister Jackie, who was mentally retarded. Walters confesses that, as a child, she sometimes felt embarrassed by Jackie.

"She stuttered terribly. People made fun of her. People made fun of me," Walters says. "I didn't bring friends home. I felt terribly guilty because she was very loving and I didn't always feel that way."

Jackie Walters died in 1985 of ovarian cancer.

"When I think of her, because she was beautiful and loving and all of that, it makes me cry."

Brooke served two full terms from 1967 to 1979, taking on the populist causes of low-income housing, increasing the minimum wage and mass transit. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004, an honor only 21 U.S. senators have received.

Comments

[mickyx65it]

Barbara Walters? That zionist bitch has a very very long list of affairs. Wth the Internet, you can run, but you can't hide. Sorry.

[dora rice]

OPRA PROBABLY TOLD HER , ONLY IF YOU CAN COME UP WITH SOMETHING REALLY SHOCKING OR JUICE , YOU CAN COME ON MY SHOW.

[billaryisswillary]

..."that Zionist bitch"....??? We get your anti semetic nature, but what does that have to do with her affair?

[GrandmaSue]

I hope everyone dissing Barbara is young, because there comes a point in life that you forgive yourself the wrong you did and remember the feelings of intense love you felt rather than the morality of it. And those feelings can be an elixir. Do you really begrudge older woman (especially those who live alone) sharing their memories and feelings? She reminded me of some very womanly moments in my life and it made my day. So thanks Barbara, those kids don't get it yet, but I sure hope they have some great memories to bank away for the future.

[dora rice]

I can't believe what I am reading. This old woman has never done anything that wasn't for headlines
or monetary gains. Who wants to read what this old woman did in her yesterday years. There once was a saying, that gentleman enjoy and keeps quiet , that goes for a lady too. I don't know if this man is still alive or if his wife is. I don't think he or his wife want to be reminded of his infedility. I also
look back and enjoy the memories. But I don't let it all hang out to anybody who wants to share it or not. Barbara was once a great commentator. But today she has lost some of her reputation as far as
interety goes on her show. She must be a lonely woman now that she is ancient. But that is no excuse
for her nasty manners.

[whoopingcrone]

Sorry, Grandma, I'm 79 and I don't get it either.
In my book, this is about a has-been trying to make herself still seem interesting/important by talking about what used to was, and borrrring.
But then, I didn't find True Confessions Magazine very interesting, either.

[wmbear]

WELL, I'M 114...

(Only look 113, though, for you ladies out there!) In my day, we just had affairs with poor, obscure, powerless people and WE LIKED IT!

[deevee]

I think I shall now be sick.

[johnnygoodwud]

hey theda,,,,,,,,,did i step on your sensitive toes regarding barbara? yes, i did read the article, and yes i did make a comment. did i 'condemn and ridicule, as you put it? perhaps, that's your opinion, and what i wrote about barbara is my opinion. my suggestion to you, if you don't like my posts, don't read them.

[BadgerBoy]

Oh Barbara, oh Barbara, Im an OAK tree!!!!!

[MizJ]

I am sure the senator's family is just delighted.

[harwel899]

This woman will sat anything for publicity. She's morally bankrupt. Why doesn't she talk about her association with Roy Cohn. This "friendship" demonstrates her real character--anything for the public spotlight. She's just a publicity whore.

[GreeksBearingGifts]

The thought of BaBa WaWa having sex is just too much for this early in the day. I want to gouge my own eyes out.

[RButler]

Your ID refers to the Trojan Horse but wouldn't it have been more accurate to say "Beware of gifts bearing Greeks"?

[dora rice]

excellent ty.

[DLSteinhardt]

Yup.

The senator's being dead is the most likely reason this reporter wasn't able to reach him at home.

!

[LeftLeanWing]

Senator Brooke is not Dead; he is 88 yrs old and living in Miami with his 2nd wife...

[ymax]

Not so.

He is sill alive at 88 years.

[Durango]

As if she had any credibility to begin with. She's not a journalist, and hasn't been for a long, long time.

She is a celebrity. With all the negative connotations that go with that word.

Like all the hacks who show up to rub elbows with the rich and famous at the White House Correspondents dinner. She needs to get a job working in an Inner City hospital, school, police station. Change her name. Work for a living. Try and find out what it means to be an American.

[dora rice]

to the point and honest

[RButler]

I always thought her interviews were awful. She always looked like she wasn't really listening to the subject of the interview but just trying to remember her next question.

[ChicagoKid]

A black republican, isn't that like a Jewish nazi?! Did she also do Alan Keyes and Armstrong Williams---wait they're gay aren't they.

It gets good about 6 paragraphs into the story.

http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2005/01/armstrong_willi.html

[TJS]

Brooke was a Republican back before the radical right had taken over the party.

[LeftLeanWing]

Brooke was a liberal Republican; the Parties hadn't completely divided up into Liberal v Conservative back then.

[Durango]

Before Nixon's Southern Strategy turned the Republicans into the party of racists the Republicans had a good record on Civil Rights.

In fact Martin Luther King had to agonize over his decision to support Kennedy in 1960 over Nixon because Nixon had a better record.

And odd as it seems there were Liberal Republicans as well.

The people of that time who were espousing the mainstream Republican political philosophy of today were generally known as the lunatic fringe. John Birch Society and other rightwing nut cases.

And the media was "Liberal" because they treated the lunatics like the crackpots they were. And are.

[ChicagoKid]

Barbara Walters has sex with men!??! WTF! I'm flabbergasted. She's using this now to sell books. I bet she doesn't even drop the 411 on how he measures-up...

[Raymondf]

She's human after all.

[Marlyn]

Who cares?

[MaracaKabob]

No one cares, about Marlyn?
Is that what you are so upset about?
We care about you Marlyn.
If you like, Marlyn, you can list your affairs here and we will all post little comments on the topic.

[PackyJ]

Brooks was great in "Lost in America" and "The Muse."
Absolutely brilliant.

[biglover]

Are you nuts? PackyJ. This guy was a senator not an actor!!!

[paixa3]

holy sweet geebus.......................WTF???????????????? LOL

[PackyJ]

The Huffpost is getting like the Yahoo comments section was.
Nobody understands humor that is even the least bit subtle.

[Theda]

I remember Edward Brooke. He was quite popular in Massachusetts at the time. Wow...he and Barbara!
Shows there's more to her than we could ever comprehend!

[Alonzo]

Isn't it odd that, at this late date, the "more to her," is revealed by her as she is selling a book? Good grief! Like the character in the Saroyan play repeatedly stated: "No foundation, all the way down the line." No grace, no character either; after all these years in the public eye, Walters simply does not know how to behave like an ordinary, decent person.

[GreeksBearingGifts]

The Indian in "The Time of Your Life." I love that character. Good for you, Alonzo, for knowing that play. You have restored my faith in humanity.

[nurseattorney]

I lived in MA at the time Brooke was Senator, I remember a scandal when it was revealed that his mother in law (I guess that would be his first wife) was collecting Medicaid ( and perhaps welfare payments as well-I can't recall exactly) while living in the Brooke home-which was certainly a very nice place. Made him look like a miser and a guy who wouldn't help out his wife's mother.