Barbara Walters’ Inner World: Friends Reflect on Her Insecurities, Fierce Drive, and Lasting Legacy

As a pioneering journalist, Barbara Walters broke barriers and changed the face of broadcast television. But behind the iconic interviews and polished on-air persona, she wrestled with deep insecurities, private heartaches, and an unrelenting pursuit of perfection.

A new documentary premiering this week at the Tribeca Festival — Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything — pulls back the curtain on her extraordinary life. Through interviews with close friends, former colleagues, and never-before-seen footage, the film reveals a more complicated, vulnerable woman than the public ever saw.

A Pioneering Career, Paved with Struggle

“Her road to success was paved with potholes and peril,” says longtime friend David Sloan, a senior executive producer at ABC News, in this week’s cover story for PEOPLE magazine. Walters, who passed away in 2022 at age 93 after a quiet battle with dementia, had largely retreated from public life since 2019.

She made history in 1976 as the first woman to co-anchor a nightly network newscast on ABC — a groundbreaking achievement that came with a heavy cost. Her male colleagues often resented her, and she faced harsh sexism behind the scenes.

“Harry [Reasoner] was downright rude to her,” recalls journalist Cynthia McFadden of Walters’ time co-anchoring with Reasoner. “She was iced out by the whole boys’ club. No one talked to her.”

Walters herself once described that period as “the most painful time in my life.”

Private Insecurities and Personal Sacrifices

Despite her commanding presence on camera, friends say Walters was plagued by self-doubt — especially when it came to her appearance. “Oh, we’re so alike: Neither of us is that attractive,” Katie Couric remembers Walters saying in the documentary.

Much of her insecurity may have stemmed from her turbulent upbringing. Raised in Boston, she was the daughter of a charismatic nightclub owner who lost everything when his business collapsed. Walters went to work early in life to support her parents and her older sister Jacqueline, who had developmental challenges. “She took that responsibility very seriously,” says McFadden.

The Art of the Interview

Walters turned her resilience into a legendary career. Known for her probing — and sometimes uncomfortable — interview questions, she carved out a singular space in American journalism. Oprah Winfrey, featured in the film, praises Walters for her willingness to ask what others wouldn’t.

She famously asked Vladimir Putin if he had ever ordered someone’s death. She bluntly told Martha Stewart, “A lot of people hate you,” and asked Barbra Streisand why she hadn’t had her nose fixed. In one especially biting moment, she told the Kardashians, “You don’t act, you don’t sing, you don’t dance… what is it that you do?”

“She said what many people were thinking,” McFadden explains. “No one got out of a Barbara interview unscathed.”

Walters was always meticulous in her preparation. “You’ve never seen someone more prepared,” Sloan says, noting that she reviewed her index cards countless times before going on air. Her bold, no-nonsense style ultimately redefined how journalists asked questions.

Power, Fame, and Family

The documentary doesn’t shy away from Walters’ ambitions, including her love of power and money. But it also reflects on what she sacrificed to succeed. Her personal life was often lonely. She was married and divorced multiple times and had a complicated relationship with her adopted daughter, Jacqueline Dena Guber.

“She paid a steep price,” says McFadden. “But she changed the game.”

Legacy of a Trailblazer

Though some of her interviews have aged poorly, her friends insist Walters was always ahead of her time — a driven woman in a man’s world, unafraid to demand a seat at the table.

“She changed the way interviews were done,” Sloan adds. “She made people think. She made them feel. She made them squirm. And most of all, she made them talk.”

Barbara Walters’ story, as told in Tell Me Everything, is more than a retrospective. It’s a testament to the complexity behind the legend — a woman who gave everything to her craft, even as she battled her own doubts and demons.

The documentary premieres June 12 at the Tribeca Festival and begins streaming on Hulu June 23.