Disney Legend Barbara Walters appears on the cover of Variety as she announced her retirement will occur on May 16. In the article she looks back at her long career while addressing what she will be doing in the future. The ABC News Headquarters will be named in her honor. She was named a Disney Legend in 2008:
When she announced her departure, Walters said she was hanging up her microphone for good. As her last day draws nearer, she’s become less sure. “I don’t want to say I will never come back,” she says. “If the president came on, depending on the circumstances, I might come back. If Fidel Castro said I will do an interview with you, which he has not in 25 years, I would go off and do it.” She says these rare assignments would be on a case-by-case basis. “I’m not going off into the sunset.”
Besides, she’ll remain executive producer of “The View,” the show she created with longtime producing partner Bill Geddie. She co-owns the series with ABC through her Barwall Prods. banner. Over the years, the gabfest has spawned its share of imitators, including “The Talk,” which launched in 2010 with Julie Chen, Sara Gilbert and a “View”-like panel of other co-hosts. Only recently has “The Talk” been nipping at the “The View’s” heels with its younger demographic.