Audition

"I want to be you" is what young people starting out in television would say to Barbara Walters, her reply was always "Then you have to take the whole package". But that package has been kept as a closely guarded secret to the real world for her entire career. Even her age is speculated by different media (tabloid) outlets. This book reveals all.

As is usual in an celebrity's life, the beginning is not always pretty. She talks in detail about her sister and her deficiencies. Whether now with all the testing and diagnosing and help available might her sister's life have been different? How her Father worked night and day to make the world of entertainment an everyday thing for everyday people. Lou Walters didn't get much recognition in life but recently had a street named after him in NY, where the Latin Quarter once stood.

She talks about her many romances, and speaks candidly about her marriages. Her chapter on Merv was familiar to me as she talked about Lorimar and such. It reminded me of Kathy's Law School Graduation and when she received a card signed Merv and Barbara, I was flabbergasted!

The chapter on her daughter is beautifully written about an ugly time. A time most parents of teenage daughters go through but hid from their friends. It is good to read that with everything they went through, there is hope in the end.

The last third of the book deals mainly with her hundreds of interviews, it is fascinating to read how hard she worked to get the "get". How much travel and fatigue is involved.

I have never been a "fan" per se. But I am definately impressed with all she has done and the "glass ceilings" she has broken for many women.