Fascinating interview -- just concluded -- with Barbara Walters and Oprah Winfrey, and I was left to wonder: How much of this is the truth? Really, I'm fairly certain I caught some major whoppers here, but with Babs, you can never tell for certain. If these are fibs, they are very good fibs, and she's kept her story straight over the past couple of years. (Oh, she's a clever one, that Barbara.)
So let's just go through some statements, one by one:
"She [Star] wanted to promote those things so she could get them for free [for her wedding]. We drew the line. She started to do it on other TV programs .... audiences began to see her as this greedy bride."
But Barbara, she did it on YOUR show! She turned "The View" into an infomercial for every unity candle, ring pillow, flower-girl accessory and bridal garter under the sun. You drew the line?! Oh please -- you, the boss, did nothing, as long as the ratings held up.
"I don't hire and fire on 'The View' ... the network came to us [and said] you have to tell her we're not going to pick up her [Star's] contract."
GAG ... SPLAT ... GASP ... Sorry, I just spit out my coffee. You don't hire and fire!? Oh, that is delicious, rich -- a malefaction of glorious proportions. Barbara Walters is the most powerful woman on TV (besides the woman sitting across from her), but she doesn't "hire and fire"? (although 20 seconds later she said she hired Rosie.) The network "told her...?" The network has never told Barbara to do anything. She tells them what do, including what hoop to jump through, and when, and how high and how often. She fired Star. Period.
"She [Star] does People Magazine and says, 'Barbara's lying [about firing her] ... ' I had such affection for her, and I was furious with her ... yes, I was lying to protect her, and now this happened [and] the network decided she shouldn't come back the next day."
For the first time in my life, I feel sympathy for Star Jones.
"She [Rosie] began to think of me as her mother. That was both good and bad."
No -- she began to think of Barbara as the boss -- a tough, hard-hitting boss who's demanding behind the scenes but sweet as pie when she's on camera.
"From day one, she took over the show ... it was very difficult ...Things were OK until she got into a feud with Donald Trump."
Wait! You just told 10 million "Oprah" viewers that it was always very difficult. Fact is, Babs wanted Ro to boost ratings, but she wanted her to keep her mouth shut when Babs was talking. That wasn't gonna happen -- ever.
"I never said I'd fire her" as Donald Trump said she had promised in a phone call.
I believe Trump -- 100 percent. She told him Rosie was out.
"Bill's feeling is if they went to commercial, she'd walk off-stage."
This whopper refers to Bill Geddie, who set up the famous shot of the screaming match between Ro and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. He went to a split screen while the spittle was flying -- that hardly seems like a directorial flourish by someone who expects the star to walk off-stage. No -- he and Babs were exploiting this blood feud for all it was worth. (Ratings, baby, ratings ...)
"I will always have the greatest affection for her,"
No comment.
Comments (2)
Given my sources at ABC News (past and present) and elsewhere, I agree that, given her penchant for lying, Barbara Walters' "money quotes" should be combed through a filter of skepticism.
But your catty article is extremely unfair- even for an opinion piece.
You are right to call Walters on her lies. But in the absence of proof, or even possible supporting evidence, that there is reason to dispute other statements Barbara has made, a credible pundit is one whose inclination is either to give Walters the benefit of the doubt, withhold judgment or decline to push/publish a personal agenda at Barbara's expense- as you appear to have done.
Fairness demands as much.
Stacy Harris
Publisher/Executive Editor
Stacy's Music Row Report
www.countrymusicreport.com/Stacyharris.htm
Rosie said it in her book and Barbara verified it on Oprah: at this stage in her life, Barbara just wants everyone to get along. And if that means using lies, fibs, half-truths, convenient memory or out-and-out revisionist history in order to polish the surface of things to a blinding sheen, Ms. Walters is more than willing to do it.
I feel sorry for her in a way because, well, everybody used to agree with this approach, and Barbara is having more and more trouble keeping up with the modern confessional take on public relations. She can't understand why Star Jones would rather tell the truth about her departure from The View than live under Barbara's glossy lie -- why on earth would she want people to know she'd been fired? (Though, granted, it was well past supper when Star began embracing the truth.)
Like the particular lens used on The View to capture her in close-ups, Barbara prefers to keep things soft-focused. That's the way it's done in polite society.