What? Barbara Walters Had An Affair?
Yes, I know this is May 1st and not April 1st, but I'm not foolin'. The Queen of convincing stars to spill their secrets has a secret of her own...back in the 1970's, she had an affair with married Washington senator Edward Brooke:
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. [...]
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.
"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."
Well butter my toast. I'm just wondering...why bring it up now? If it was successfully hidden all these years, all something like this would do is cause pain to Senator Brooke or his family. Some things should just stay secret.
So Bawa Wawa herownself had a secret big enough to build one of her famous celeb specials around. I'm sure back then, not only would the affair itself been scandalous, but the fact that he is African-American and she is white would have really got some people riled up. This was the 1970's, remember.
I'm waiting for Hugh Downs to come out and admit that he has a secret chocolate chip cookie addiction that started about the time he joined 20/20. You know, because they really are Just. That. Good.
(kudos and a chocolate chip cookie to you if you caught the archaic SNL reference)
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