14 DAY TRIAL // 80-year-old television personality and co-host on the popular The View, Barbara Walters is taking some time off to undergo heart surgery, she announced on the show, as People magazine can confirm. The decision of having surgery on the heart was not a scary one, actually coming with a sense of relief, but she’d still be gone from the show anywhere from one month to three months, Walters also revealed.
Even Walters’ co-hosts on The View had no idea about the planned intervention until a few minutes before going on air, when she told them herself. On the show, she explained that the reason why she held back for so long was because she did not want the intervention to generate more media than necessary by having it out in the open long before it actually took place. She also said it was about time she took a vacation and insisted she was not afraid of the outcome, having already spoken to her doctors and being offered assurance that this was the best course of action.
“During ‘A Day of Hot Topics’ on The View Monday, Barbara Walters had one of her own to discuss – her upcoming heart surgery. ‘Later this week, I’m going to have surgery to replace one faulty heart valve,’ Walters said, opening the show with news, which she had only revealed to her cohosts that morning,” People magazine writes of the sudden announcement.
“‘You kept it secret very well, Barbara,’ Joy Behar said, and Walters explained, ‘I thought it best not to talk about it too far in advance.’ Walters, who added ‘you know how healthy I have been – never missed a day’s work,’ said that she has ‘known of this condition for a while now,’ and she and her doctors agreed, ‘Since the summer is coming up, I can take a nice vacation.’ Recovery can be anywhere from a month to three months, she said,” the same publication further informs.
Whether a temporary replacement for Walters’ slot on the show will be found is not yet known, though chances of that are very slim to none. Hopefully, she will have a speedy recovery and be back before we know it.