The news that the legendary journalist Barbara Walters plans to retire in the summer of 2014 should come as no surprise to anyone: She is 83 and has a net worth estimated at about $150 million. What she plans on doing with her new-found spare time -- besides critiquing other newscasters from the sidelines -- remains somewhat vague. We have a few suggestions about what she shouldn't do:
1) Move to Florida.
Florida was where New Yorkers used to retire. That changed awhile ago, and while we think it's a perfectly lovely state that we still credit with introducing the word "chad" into American vocabularies, it's not where we see "Baba Waters" headed. There's a saying in Florida that the farther south you go in the state, the more northern it is. We don't think the state extends far enough south to be considered sufficiently north for Walters. We suspect that when she sees an alligator, she thinks purse not wildlife. Babs, stay in New York.
2) Keep trying to make people cry.
For much of Walters' career, she was known as the interviewer who brought her subject to tears. Oprah, we all cried along with you. Sure, hate is the new love in the online world, but it's just unbecoming for a woman of her stature to keep asking those questions that make famous people explore their inner demons and share the most personal aspects of their lives with us, the nosy masses. And sometimes, her desire for a confession was just plain old unrealistic. I mean, did she really think Vladimir Putin was going to admit ordering people to be killed?
3) Write a gossipy tell-all.
Sure it's tempting to share how many shards cut you on the way to breaking the glass ceiling for women in TV journalism. We know it was hard. We want to remember you with the respect you deserve, not for the industry gossip you shared with us. Leave the oversharing to the Internet and don't use retirement as a time for telling all.
What do you think Walters should do in retirement? Let us know in comments.
Related
Before You Go
