Barbara Walters’ health is reportedly worsening. The legendary broadcaster has remained out of the spotlight for the past few years; it’s been three years since she has been photographed in public.
A new report from Radar Online suggests that the 89-year-old’s condition is going declining quickly, as Walters reportedly continues to suffer from advanced dementia. An insider close to the situation reports that Walters has been spending her “final days” in bed at her apartment, for the most part.
“Barbara suffers from exhaustion and fatigue, as well as anxiety and agitation. She’s very frail and spends a great deal of the day napping!”
Walters is reportedly having trouble recognizing people who were once close friends. With the majority of her time spent in her upscale New York City apartment, Walters’ health is reportedly deteriorating at a rapid rate and many media outlets, including ABC News, have reportedly been prepping her obituary.
“Barbara is fading a little more every day. She’s close to the end and her team is scrambling to manage affairs just the way Barbara would want them,” the source continued, while also noting that her caretakers try to let her make decisions and let her keep a little bit of independence but oftentimes she isn’t even able to answer them, staring blankly instead.
Barbara Walters talks about her meetings with Fidel Castro over the years: https://t.co/CtZFzqayOJ pic.twitter.com/vYowE2RQqa
— ABC News (@ABC) November 27, 2016
As fans of the legendary television personality know, Barbara has had a well-documented career in journalism. Biography.com shares that Walters started her career as a secretary before she moved into journalism, landing the job of assistant to publicity director and Republican activist Tex McCrary of WRCA-TV. In the 1950s, she began writing for the Morning Show on CBS before landing stints on The Today Show and ABC’s popular series 20/20 where her fame skyrocketed and her trademark interviewing style was born.
Walters also happens to be the mastermind behind the popular daytime show The View . The highly-regarded journalist has interviewed some of the biggest names in the industry, and her 1999 interview with Monica Lewinsky was named the highest-rated news program ever broadcast. She’s also interviewed Fidel Castro, Osama Bin Laden’s brother, Hugo Chavez and the Dalai Lama.
The TV legend also broke a ton of barriers for women in the industry, and was the first woman ever to co-anchor a network evening news program. According to IMDb , the 89-year-old has also been nominated for and won plenty of awards in her career, including the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show for The View as well as the coveted Lifetime Achievement Award at the Daytime Emmys in 2000.
Additionally, Walters got her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007, proving once again that she’s one of the best journalists in the business.
