Barbara Walters Announces Retirement

After a round of speculation, longtime newscaster Barbara Walters confirmed her imminent retirement today.

The 83-year-old The View co-host announced her plans to retire in Summer 2014 to ABC News on Sunday night, which Walters linked to in a Twitter post, writing, “Big news – and I want to tell you first… (Looking forward to one more great year!)”;

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“I am very happy with my decision and look forward to a wonderful and special year ahead both on “The View” and with ABC News,”; said Walters, who created the morning talk show in 1997. “I created “The View’ and am delighted it will last beyond my leaving it.”;

ABC News stated that although Walters won’t be featured as a co-host on The View any longer, she will still remain with the show as a producer.

“I do not want to appear on another program or climb another mountain,”; she said. “I want instead to sit on a sunny field and admire the very gifted women – and OK, some men too – who will be taking my place.’

The Massachusetts native began her career as a co-host of Today in 1961, a position that she held for fifteen years. After her Today stint, Walters moved on to ABC as a co-anchor and contributor to ABC News and eventually made her way into becoming host of 20/20 for two decades.

“No one was more surprised than I,”; she said of her extensive career. “I wasn’t beautiful, like many of the women on the program before me, [and] I had trouble pronouncing my r’s. I still do!”;

Amid many honors for her TV accomplishments, the forthright newscaster was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007.

“There’s only one Barbara Walters,”; said Ben Sherwood, president of ABC News. “And we look forward to making her final year on television as remarkable, path-breaking and news-making as Barbara herself. Barbara will always have a home at ABC News and we look forward to a year befitting her brilliant career, filled with exclusive interviews, great adventures and indelible memories.”;

More On: Barbara Walters, The View

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