Barbara Walters biggest interviews revisited, from Monica Lewinsky to the Menendez brothers
Barbara Walters had a trailblazing, decades-long broadcast journalism career that was most defined by the interviews she did with newsmakers and celebrities alike.
Over her 50-year television career, Walters, who died in 2022 at the age of 93, interviewed thousands of people, including everyone from Fidel Castro and Barbra Streisand to the Kardashian sisters, Vladimir Putin, Lady Gaga, Saddam Hussein, Monica Lewinsky, Robin Givens and Mike Tyson, Bashar Al-Assad and the Menendez brothers.
A new documentary looks at Walters' life and career and shows the impact those interviews had on the world.
"She asked the question that nobody else had asked, and asked it in a way that always hit a nerve," Oprah Winfrey says of Walters in the documentary, "Barbara Walters Tell Me Everything," streaming June 23 on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+.
"No one ever got out totally unscathed," journalist and friend Cynthia McFadden says in the documentary of Walters' interviews.
Bette Midler, herself the subject of Walters' interviews over the years, says of Walters' style, "She was fearless, and sometimes she got under people’s skin."
In the documentary, Victor Neufeld, a senior executive producer who worked with Walters for years on ABC News' "20/20," details how diligently Walters prepared for each interview.
"When she prepared for an interview, the whole world stopped when you were in this session with her. Nothing could interrupt," Neufeld said. "She went through hundreds of questions and then she, in a moment, said, 'That's enough. We're ready.'"
Take a look back at some of the most memorable interviews of Walters' career.
Fidel Castro
In 1977, Walters traveled to Cuba to interview Fidel Castro, then the country's Communist leader.
The nearly five-hour session became one of the most memorable moments in Walters' career, and in broadcast journalism history.
"It took us many years to actually get it," Walters told ABC News' Byron Pitts in 2016 of the interview. "For a man who likes to talk, he does very few interviews. When he finally sat down, it was, for me, memorable, and to a large degree because we crossed the Bay of Pigs together."
Nearly 30 years later, in 2002, Walters interviewed Castro for a second time.
"It wasn't as important an interview, I didn't think, or as exciting an interview because a lot had happened and we'd learned a great about him that we hadn't known," Walters told Pitts of the second interview.
Monica Lewinsky
In 1998, Walters sat down for an hours-long interview with Monica Lewinsky about her relationship with then-President Bill Clinton while she was a White House intern.
After Walters' death in 2022, Lewinsky posted a tribute on social media, writing, in part, "I remarked that this was the first time I'd ever been in serious trouble. I'd basically been a good kid – got good grades, didn't do drugs, never shoplifted etc. Without missing a beat, Barbara said: Monica, next time shoplift."
Katharine Hepburn
Walters' interview with actress Katharine Hepburn in 1981 became famous for a single question.
After Hepburn told Walters she felt like a strong tree at her age, Walters replied, "What kind of tree are you?”
The question became fodder for late-night show jokes for years. In 2006, Walters herself described it as one of her biggest mistakes in the special, "The Barbara Walters Special: 30 Mistakes in 30 Years."
"Starting out at number 30 in our countdown, and it's a big one, never ask anyone what kind of tree they want to be," Walters said in the special, which aired on ABC News to mark the 30th anniversary of Walters' career.
Erik and Lyle Menendez
Walters traveled to California in 1996 for the biggest interview get at the time, an exclusive jailhouse interview with Erik and Lyle Menendez after they were found guilty of murdering their parents.
In the interview, the brothers discussed with Walters the closeness of their relationship, and how that may have played a role in their parents' murder.
Lyle Menendez said the killing of his parents “happened, in part, because Erik Menendez wanted, needed my help” and blames himself “for not protecting him earlier.”
In another moment, Walters pressed Erik Menendez when he described himself as "just a normal kid."
"I’m just a normal - I’m just a normal kid," he said, to which Walters replied, "Oh Eric, you’re a normal kid who killed your parents."
"I know," Erik Menendez said.
Clint Eastwood
In 1982, Walters interviewed actor Clint Eastwood.
The two shared a flirtatious moment that caused Walters to jokingly call for a break in the interview.
After Eastwood told Walters he is not one to share emotions easily, Walters responded to the Hollywood superstar by saying, "You would drive me nuts and I would drive you crazy because I would be saying, 'But, you know.'"
Eastwood, sitting close to Walters at a picnic table in a field of wild flowers, then told her, "Well we could try it and see if it worked out."
After a quick laugh and a second of silence, Walters looked off-camera and said, "I think we'll stop and reload."
Discussing the interview clip on "Good Morning America" in May, co-anchor George Stephanopoulos noted, "That’s the only time I’ve ever seen Barbara Walters blush."
Bashar al-Assad
In 2011, at the age of 82, Walters traveled to Syria to interview Bashar al-Assad, the then-president of Syria.
The interview took place during an escalating civil war in Syria and al-Assad's first American interview.
Walters pressed al-Assad on the uprising and whether he felt "guilty" for the deaths in his country.
"You don't feel guilty when you don't kill people," he told Walters.
"Barbara Walters Tell Me Everything," begins streaming June 23 on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+.
The Walt Disney Co. is the parent company of ABC News and Hulu.
