Barbara Walters’ Dating History: Merv Adelson, Edward Brooke, More

Barbara Walters’ career as a television icon spanned decades — and so did her love life.

In addition to making headlines for her countless contributions to TV and breaking barriers for women everywhere, the View creator — who died in December 2022 at age 93 — was also known for her three marriages and active dating life.

Walters kicked off her career in the 1950s, a decade during which she also wed for the first time, marrying Robert Henry Katz in 1955 (and divorcing him two years later). As she worked her way through the television journalism rankings, the 20/20 alum tied the knot with theater producer Lee Guber, whom she was married to from 1963 to 1975. In 1968, the couple adopted their daughter, Jacqueline. (Walters also credited friend — and later beau — Roy Cohn with helping the pair with Jackie’s adoption.)

Six years after divorcing Katz, the Boston native exchanged vows with her third husband, Lorimar producer Merv Adelson. Though the pair’s first union only lasted from 1981 to 1984, they gave their marriage a second try in 1986. Their relationship was not meant to be, however, and the two split for good in 1992.

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In addition to her three marriages, Walters had an infamous two-year affair with then-Senator Edward Brooke in the ‘70s, a scandal that she later confessed to in her 2008 memoir, Audition. Their romance not only made headlines for its scandalous nature, but also because they were involved in an interracial affair during a particularly difficult time for race relations in America, Walters wrote in her book.

“I had a daughter to think about and a network that would be less than thrilled to see me involved in any kind of scandal. None of that seemed to matter to me,” the late TV anchor penned in her memoir, revealing that the two ultimately ended their romance because it would have ruined their respective careers.

Walters went on to date many more prominent men in Washington, including former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan and former Senator John Warner, who was one of Elizabeth Taylor’s ex-husbands.

One A-lister Walters regretted never dating, however, was Clint Eastwood. She interviewed the Escape From Alcatraz actor in 1982, during which “he was very flirtatious, and I was very taken [with him],” she recalled in a 2008 interview with Jimmy Fallon. “He asked me if I wanted to have dinner, and I said, ‘No, I have to work.’ You know, I don’t mix business with pleasure.” Though Walters later ran into the Dirty Harry star on the red carpet, she had missed her chance, she told Fallon. “I could’ve been Mrs. Clint Eastwood!” she bemoaned at the time.

Keep scrolling for Walters’ extensive dating history through the years:

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Robert Henry Katz

Katz was Walters’ first husband; the two tied the knot in 1955 before divorcing two years later.

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Roy Cohn

Though Cohn claimed he proposed to Walters the night before she married her second husband, Guber, in 1963, the 20/20 alum denied the story. The two remained lifelong friends, however, and dated briefly in the ‘90s.

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Lee Guber

The television icon was married to Guber from 1963 to 1976. After Walters suffered three miscarriages, the two adopted daughter Jacqueline in 1968. Years after her troubled childhood, Jacqueline — and Walters — opened up about the difficulties she faced as a kid, including one incident where she ran away from home as a teen.

“I was so busy with a career,” Walters later acknowledged in her TV special, Barbara Walters: Her Story. “It’s the age-old problem. And, you know, on your deathbed, are you going to say, ‘I wish I spent more time in the office?’ No. You’ll say, ‘I wish I spent more time with my family,’ and I do feel that way. I wish I had spent more time with my Jackie.”

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Edward Brooke

Walters infamously had an affair with the then-senator in the ‘70s, she wrote in Audition. The tryst nearly cost both Walters and Brooke their careers, she later revealed in an interview while promoting the book. A friend called the TV pioneer to tell her, “’This is going to come out. This is going to ruin your career,'” she recalled, “‘This is going to ruin him. You’ve got to break this off.'”

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Merv Adelson

Walters wed — and divorced — her third husband twice in the ‘80s. The pair were first married from 1981 to 1984, and attempted another shot at marriage from 1986 to 1992. Neither union lasted.

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Alan Greenspan

The View alum dated the former Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Though her relationship with Greenspan overlapped with her romance with Alan Greenberg, the two stayed on good terms. She later attended Greenspan’s 1997 wedding to MSNBC icon Andrea Mitchell.

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Alan Greenberg

Walters revealed in her 2008 memoir that she dated Greenberg while simultaneously dating Greenspan. The men’s names were so similar, she wrote, that her housekeeper had trouble keeping track.

“When they gave me the message, I could only ask, which one talked louder?” she penned in the book. “Alan Greenberg … talked in a normal tone of voice. Alan Greenspan was very soft-spoken. He almost whispered. And that’s how I would know whether it was Greenspan or Greenberg.”

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John Warner

The journalist dated Warner, one of Elizabeth Taylor’s eight husbands, in the late ‘90s, even teasing their relationship with the former senator on The View in 1999. The two later split. Warner died in 2021.