Why Barbara Walters was 'threatened' by Diane Sawyer: doc director
Legendary broadcast journalist Barbara Walters, who died in 2022 at age 93, takes center stage in the new documentary 'Barbara Walters Tell Me Everything (premiering Monday, June 23 on Hulu and Disney+).
Directed by Emmy-winning filmmaker Jackie Jesko, the program offers a comprehensive look at Walters' trailblazing career, and her life from her early years until her retirement.
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'This isn't a hagiography, and it was never intended to be,' Jesko exclusively told The Post.
She added, 'I think with someone like Barbara, people know that she was a difficult person and a complicated person, and it would be ridiculous to make something about her that didn't include that.'
9 The 'Barbara Walters Tell Me Everything' documentary poster.
Hulu
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9 Jackie Jesko attends the 'Barbara Walters Tell Me Everything' premiere during the 2025 Tribeca Festival at SVA Theater on June 12, 2025 in New York City.
Getty Images for Tribeca Festival
9 Barbara Walters says farewell to live daily television in May 2014 on 'The View.'
ABC
The doc covers Walters' career beginnings as the first woman to co-anchor a national news show on prime time television, her early struggles in the boys' club environment in the 1970s, her rise to 'Today,' '20/20' and 'The View,' her famous interviews, her friendship with controversial figures like Roy Cohn, and her tumultuous personal life, including her rocky relationship with her daughter, Jackie Guber.
It also covers her contradictory attitudes of embracing her position as a mentor to women – but viewing Diane Sawyer as a rival.
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'I thought it revealed a lot about Barbara and sort of what made her tick and what she was insecure about,' Jesko told the Post, referring to her tension with Sawyer, 79.
9 Barbara Walters and Diane Sawyer at the annual gala of the Museum of Television & Radio at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in 1996.
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9 Barbara Walters at the beginning of her career in the 70s.
HULU
'I do understand that it makes sense that Barbara would have been extremely threatened by Diane Sawyer,' she said, adding that Sawyer had as much talent as Walters, but was also 'beautiful' in the way that 'Barbara wished she had been.'
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The film includes numerous voice covers from archival footage of Walters.
'You probably catch in the film that she talks about herself as ugly kind of a lot, which is really quite shocking when you see the photos and videos of her or so when she was much younger. You're like, 'Wow, you were absolutely beautiful. What are you talking about?''
9 Barbara Walters interviews Monica Lewinsky on 20/20 in 1999.
ABC
'But I think that she didn't match the beauty standard of the 60s, which was much more Diane Sawyer than it was Barbara Walters,' Jesko explained. 'Her whole life, she always felt lesser than in some way. And for a mix of reasons, Diane brought that out in her.'
Interviews include Oprah Winfrey, Connie Chung, Katie Couric, Joy Behar, Disney CEO Bob Iger, Bette Midler and Monica Lewinski (who was one of Walters' major 'gets' for a sit-down).
'I hadn't realized exactly how much Barbara had impacted her life – Oprah saw [Walters] as a roadmap for herself. I found it touching, and I found that really interesting,' said Jesko.
9 Barbara Walters sitting with Oprah Winfrey in 1999.
Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
9 Barbara Walters and Harry Reasoner on ABC news in 1976.
Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
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The director wasn't shocked by any information she found, but she was fascinated by Walters' friendship with controversial lawyer and fixer Roy Cohn – who was most recently dramatized by Jeremy Strong in the 2024 movie 'The Apprentice.'
'It was very revealing that she was so close to this man, and that she didn't seem to mind a lot of the things he did, which were terrible in his life… she stood by him even at the time when it was very disadvantageous for her to do so.'
She added, 'So, theirs must have been a true friendship on some level.'
9 Barbara Walters on 'The View' in 2014.
Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
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The film, however, doesn't cover Walters' declining health, such as her reported dementia before her death. The reports were never confirmed.
'When you do celebrity films about someone who's passed away, it's always like, okay, are you doing cradle to grave? Where do you want to end the story? And we weren't sure at the outset where we wanted to end the story,' Jesko explained to The Post.
Capping it with Walters' onscreen retirement from 'The View' in 2014 – when two dozen women in journalism came to pay tribute to her – made the most sense.
'I didn't really see a strong reason to keep the story going at that point in time,' Jesko explained. 'It felt like an ending.'
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