Broadcast journalist Barbara Walters died on December 30, 2022, at the age of 93. Walters worked in journalism from 1951 until her retirement in 2015 and the entirety of her life remains a subject of great fascination. Recently, her final words were revealed thanks to a new biography dedicated entirely to Walters.
The book in question is The Rulebreaker: The Life and Times of Barbara Walters, penned by USA Today Washington bureau chief Susan Page. Simon & Schuster calls it “the definitive biography” on the subject of Walters, whose final thoughts were contemplative and gravitated, as always, back to journalism.
An upcoming biography confirms Barbara Walters’ final words
According to The Rulebreaker, Walters’ final words were, “No regrets — I had a great life.” Walters was at her Manhattan home when she died; her death followed several years of battling dementia. Walters had had several health complications over the years prior to her passing, including a rough bout of chicken pox.
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Prior to retiring from The View, Walters had even collapsed and her colleagues eased her onto a couch in the greenroom until paramedics arrived on the scene. Walters had been on The View for 17 years, serving as creator, producer, and co-host. Walters’ final on-air appearance on ABC was in 2015 and her last public appearance was back in 2016.
Revealing more of a public and private life
For all that she lived in the spotlight, much about Walters remained shrouded in dramatization and mystery alike. Simon & Schuster even calls the subject of The Rulebreaker “the most successful female broadcaster of all time … whose personal demons fueled an ambition that broke all the rules.”
The Rulebreaker also reveals that Walters’ final resting place is “next to [family members] at Lakeside Memorial Park in Miami,” consistent with the journalist’s own wishes. Her gravesite lists her name, date of birth, the year of her passing, and her final words.
No regrets. That’s the sentiment that, author Page feels, Walters had to carry to become such a defining point in journalism history. “She did it by just being the most,” said Page in an interview with Amna Nawaz of PBS News Hour, “the hardest-working, most persistent person you can imagine. She overcame impossible obstacles, including the fact that she didn’t really speak very well. She had this sort of odd speaking pattern. And yet she managed to succeed in this business, against — against all odds.”
So went a huge boundary in the field of journalism that had been dominated so often by men, with a brand new face defining the industry for years to come.
The Rulebreaker hits shelves in April 2024.
