Barbara Walters reportedly was 'very regretful' about her relationship with daughter Jackie

Barbara Walters, one of the most iconic American show hosts, experienced success in her career. However, her personal life was quite the opposite of her fulfilling profession.

In an exclusive conversation with People Magazine, retired NBC correspondent Cynthia McFadden opened up about Walters' feelings and regrets about her life. In this interview, published on June 12, 2025, McFadden reflected on what the late journalist shared with her and other friends during the concluding timeline of her work life.

Barbara's friend, Cynthia, said:

"She’d tell everyone, 'I so admire your relationship with your children.' She was very regretful about her family life. It was something she felt like she couldn’t fix. So that was really tugging at her."

Barbara often expressed her heartfelt thoughts for her friends' loving families. She even asked them to look at their loved ones' photos. Seeing them enjoying time with their families, she was often caught looking back at her relationships with her loved ones.

A new documentary on Barbara Walters's life is set to release soon

Barbara Walters Tell Me Everything will premiere on June 23 on Hulu. Director Jackie Jesko captured the ABC News anchor's career trajectory, showing her epic rise to fame and noteworthy achievements over the decades.

The upcoming documentary also delves into her busy career's impact on her family, loved ones, and personal events.

According to People Magazine, the director shared.

"I grappled with that. I do feel like if she had to do it all over again, she probably wouldn't change a thing."

Barbara Walters shared a daughter, Jacqueline Dena Guber, dearly called Jackie, with her second husband, Lee Guber. The couple adopted her in 1968. She chose to go through the adoption path after three miscarriages.

As cited by the outlet, she once reflected on being a mother in archival footage. She described the experience as,

"My world came together. I mean, I was already on the Today Show. And I’d had three miscarriages, and now I had everything."

However, her demanding career turned the sacred motherhood experience into something quite opposite of her expectations.

Remembering how Barbara always was on her toes and jumped from one responsibility to another for her career, Cynthia explained,

"Barbara was always flying somewhere, interviewing someone."

During those days, hosts did not have the luxury to travel with their kids. Neither Walters could tag along with Jackie while travelling for work.

Recalling those days, Walters said in her documentary,

"Today, people are more accepting. You can bring your kid to the office. In those days, if I had brought Jackie into the studio, it would be as if I had bought a dog who was not housebroken."

Barbara and Jackie's mother-daughter relationship was not too pleasant. Instead, they were different and had contrasting outlooks.

McFadden remarked during the exclusive conversation that her friend often struggled to connect with Jackie, whose aspirations in life were quite different. Unlike Walters, her daughter was not particularly career-oriented.

Cynthia chimed in:

"She couldn't understand someone like Jackie, who wasn't racing to the top."

She further noted,

"They were just so dispositionally and physically unlike each other. It was a struggle. That's not to say they didn't love each other, but it wasn't what she'd hoped for, and probably not what Jackie had hoped for either. "

The former correspondent also pointed out that "Jackie shouldn't be held accountable for any of this." She also clarified that Barbara wouldn't have wanted her daughter to be.