News

Barbara Walters Has Been Married 4 Times to 3 Different Men — What to Know About Her Ex-Husbands

Closer Staff

Published

on

Barbara Walters Has Been Married 4 Times to 3 Different Men — What to Know About Her Ex-Husbands
Mandatory Credit: Photo by Dave Allocca/Starpix/Shutterstock (5729490c) Barbara Walters Special Post-Tonys Broadway Dinner Reception in Celebration of Paramount Pictures 'Florence Foster Jenkins', New York, America - 13 Jun 2016

Barbara Walters has had a stellar career as a journalist and as a television host, with her career spanning her work as a 20/20 anchor all the way to creating and becoming a cohost of The View.

However, one shortcoming she has expressed was finding a lasting marriage. “I don’t think that I was very good at marriage,” Barbara told ABC News in 2014. “It may be that my career was just too important. It may have been that I was a difficult person to be married to, and I just seem to be better alone. I’m not lonely, I’m alone.”

The award-winning journalist first tied the knot in 1955 to Navy veteran and business executive Robert Henry Katz. So, what happened to Barbara Walters’ first marriage? Following their wedding at the Plaza Hotel when Barbara was just 22, the pair called it quits two years later in 1957.

Later in 1963, Barbara married for a second time, walking down the aisle with Broadway producer Lee Guber. Together, they adopted their daughter Jackie in 1968.

In a 2002 joint interview with Barbara and Jackie, Jackie, who has sought a life of privacy, told NBC News of the sweet way her mom framed her adoption: “She used to say that some mothers have babies from their tummies, and some have it from their heart. And you came from my heart.”

While Jackie struggled with addiction and even ran away from home for a month, she eventually sought treatment through an “intervention program” in Idaho.

As for Barbara and Lee, the former couple split up and divorced in 1976 and Lee later died in 1988.

Barbara Walters Has Been Married 4 Times to 3 Different Men — What to Know About Her Ex-Husbands
Mark Terrill/AP/Shutterstock

Barbara’s last husband she was legally married to walked down the aisle with her not once, but twice. Lorimar CEO Merv Adelson and Barbara were wed from 1981 to 1984 and then again from 1986 to 1992.

Adelson eventually saw 90 percent of his enormous wealth evaporate and by his later years, was living in a 500-square-foot apartment in Santa Monica.

“He was a kind, funny, thoughtful man,” Barbara, who divorced him in 1992, told Vanity Fair in 2013, two years before his death. “Would things have worked out differently for Merv if we had stayed together? I don’t know. Probably not … I have no regrets.”

In addition to her four marriages, Barbara dated Alan Greenspan and John Warner and claimed to have had an affair with Senator Edward Brooke, who died in 2015, in the ’70s.

Trending News

Soap Opera5 days ago

The ‘Days of our Lives’ Newcomer With a Serious Soap Opera Pedigree

Clive Davis Premiere Clive Davis Premiere
Celebrity6 days ago

Clive Davis Net Worth: Music Mogul Leaves Behind Staggering Fortune After His Death at 94

Carroll O'Connell Jean Stapleton All in the Family Carroll O'Connell Jean Stapleton All in the Family
Nostalgia6 days ago

This ‘All in the Family’ Episode Left Viewers Holding Their Breath, and They’re Still Talking About It

Soap Opera6 days ago

Why ‘General Hospital’s’ Cassius Faison May Be on His Way Out

Soap Opera5 days ago

Colton Little Urges ‘Days of Our Lives’ Fans to Fight For His Permanent Return

Soap Opera7 days ago

‘General Hospital’s’ Maurice Benard Teases Big Things Ahead For Sonny, Jason, and Anna

Soap Opera6 days ago

‘General Hospital’s’ Most Prolific Villain Keeps Fans in Stitches

Ann-Margret 1997 Ann-Margret 1997
Celebrity7 days ago

Ann-Margret, 85, Says She’s Still a ‘Rebel’ as She Reveals Why She Won’t Slow Down

TV Shows6 days ago

Judith Light Shares Heartwarming Update on Her ‘Really Strong Bond’ With Tony Danza

Clive Davis 2026 Clive Davis 2026
Celebrity6 days ago

Clive Davis Leaves Behind 4 Children and 8 Grandchildren After His Death at 94

Lindsay Wagner Lindsay Wagner
Celebrity6 days ago

50 Years Later, Fans Say Lindsay Wagner’s Most Famous Character Still Brings Them Comfort

Soap Opera5 days ago

‘Tell the Story’ — ‘Days of our Lives” Eric Martsolf Reveals One of Legendary Late Co-Star’s Final Wishes