Barbara Walters’ Biggest Heartbreak Was Not Her Career But Her Daughter

Barbara Walters was one of the most successful journalists in the world, known for interviewing presidents, celebrities, and world leaders.

However, behind her impressive career was a personal struggle that never made headlines in the same way.

Ahead of the release of a documentary telling Walters’ story, a close friend has opened up about the challenges the icon faced, revealing her biggest regret.

Turns out Walters’ greatest heartbreak wasn’t her career but her difficult relationship with her adopted daughter, Jackie.

Walters had a tumultuous relationship with her adopted daughter, Jackie.

For years, the radio personality yearned for a close mother-daughter bond, but sadly, never experienced it.

Reportedly, Walters would look at pictures of her friends with their children and grandchildren, wishing she could relate to their joy.

Until her passing in 2022, the icon lived with regret about the state of her relationship with Jackie.

Recently, Walters’ friend and former NBC correspondent Cynthia McFadden exclusively spoke to PEOPLE about the journalist’s thoughts on her relationship with Jackie.

She told the outlet that Walters struggled with the emotional void left by their complicated relationship.

“She’d tell everyone, ‘I so admire your relationship with your children.’ She was very regretful about her family life. It was something she felt like she couldn’t fix. So that was really tugging at her,” she said.

Walters’ decision to adopt Jackie stemmed from her inability to give birth. The TV star was married to her second husband, Lee Guber, at the time and eager to have a child after suffering three miscarriages.

In 1968, Walters’ longtime friend Roy Cohn found a baby girl for them to adopt, and they were over the moon.

While the adoption was undoubtedly a momentous occasion for the couple, Walters wanted little to no publicity.

"I really didn’t want the biological mother to know that Jackie had been adopted by us. I just kept right on working,” she told NBC News in 2002.

At the time Jackie was adopted, the 93-year-old had just joined ABC’s “Today.” Consequently, juggling motherhood and such a demanding career became very tasking for Walters.

“I never thought about it. I didn’t think, ‘Can I juggle both?’ I probably should have,” she told the outlet.

However, regardless of her busy schedule, Barbara Walters ensured that her daughter was not completely bereft of attention.

Still, Jackie found it difficult fitting into her mother’s world as she grew older. At some point, she rebelled terribly, losing focus and becoming a drug user.

According to McFadden, Walters was heartbroken and couldn’t relate to her daughter, who wasn’t as career-driven as she was.

“She couldn't understand someone like Jackie, who wasn't racing to the top,” she told PEOPLE.

“They were just so dispositionally and physically unlike each other,” she continued. “It was a struggle. That’s not to say they didn’t love each other, but it wasn’t what she’d hoped for, and probably not what Jackie had hoped for either.”

In addition to Jackie’s lack of focus and drug use, she also became a runaway.

In 1985, Barbara Walters received a call that her daughter had disappeared, two weeks after enrolling her in a program for high school students at Parsons School of Design in Los Angeles.

According to her biography “The Rule Breaker: The Life and Times of Barbara Walters,” written by Susan Page, Jackie ran away with a friend and remained missing for four days.

Thankfully, Walters received news that her daughter was in New Mexico.

Without hesitation, the “20/20” star sent a former Green Beret who specialized in picking up runways to collect her daughter, who was then placed in an intervention program in Idaho.

Besides dealing with a rebellious daughter, Walters also faced sexism during her early years with ABC.

In an excerpt from the upcoming Hulu documentary “Barbara Walters Tell Me Everything,” the star spoke about her struggles.

“I would walk into that studio, and Harry would be sitting with the stagehands, and they’d all crack jokes and ignore me. No one would talk to me. There was not a woman on the staff,” Walters recalled.

She also called it “the most painful period in my life,” per PEOPLE.

Irrespective of the sexism she faced, Walters pushed hard, and was given her own specials on the network in 1976.