Barbara Walters to announce retirement

MANILA, Philippines – Veteran newscaster Barbara Walters is set to retire in Summer 2014, reports ABC.

After around 6 decades in the industry, reports say the famed TV journalist will formally announce her retirement on Monday,  May 13 (May 14 MNL), on morning talk show “The View” which she pioneered in 1997.

Walters will remain executive producer of “The View” and will continue to anchor ABC News during her last year in the media. She will also continue doing features throughout the year such as the “20 Years of 10 Most Fascinating People” special in December, an Oscar special, and a May career tribute.

“I am very happy with my decision and look forward to a wonderful and special year ahead both on ‘The View’ and with ABC News. I created ‘The View’ and am delighted it will last beyond my leaving it,” she says.

Walters first became a co-host for NBC’s “Today Show,” which jumpstarted her career.

“No one was more surprised than I,” she says of her on-air career. “I wasn’t beautiful, like many of the women on the program before me, [and] I had trouble pronouncing my r’s. I still do!” she shares.

More than a decade later, Walters became the first female anchor for ABC’s evening news show, “Evening News.” After which, she became a co-host for “20/20,” an investigative journalism program.

Walters is known for her annual “Most Fascinating People Special” airing in December, where she has interviewed the biggest names in Hollywood such as Angelina Jolie and Tom Cruise, as well as every US President from Nixon to Obama.

ABC is thankful for Walters’s contribution to the industry.

“There’s only one Barbara Walters and we look forward to making her final year on television as remarkable, path-breaking, and news-making as Barbara herself.

“Barbara will always have a home at ABC News and we look forward to a year befitting her brilliant career, filled with exclusive interviews, great adventures, and indelible memories,” states ABC News president Ben Sherwood.

Watch Barbara Walters’s interview with US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama here:

– Rappler.com