Oprah Winfrey has never shied away from sharing intimate details about her life, and now the media mogul is revealing another deeply personal factor that shaped her decision to remain childless.
Now, in a candid moment captured for the new documentary about legendary journalist Barbara Walters, the 71-year-old powerhouse opened up about how witnessing her mentor’s tumultuous relationship with her daughter influenced her own path away from motherhood.
The revelation comes as part of “Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything,” an ABC News Studios documentary that begins streaming on Hulu on June 23.
The film features intimate interviews with prominent figures in journalism, including Winfrey, Katie Couric, Connie Chung, and Cynthia McFadden, all reflecting on Walters’ groundbreaking career and complex personal life. Through archival footage and new conversations, the documentary paints a comprehensive portrait of Walters.
Winfrey recalls a specific conversation that left a lasting impression on her life decisions.
“I remember her telling me once that ‘there’s nothing more fulfilling than having children, and you should really think about it,'” the OWN founder shares in the documentary, according to People.
In 1988, Oprah told Barbara Walters that she studied + copied her mannerisms for a TV audition. Barbara would look up/down, so Oprah looked up/down…but she didn’t know that Barbara was ~actually~ just looking at the notecards on her lap. Oprah got the job anyway.
— Spencer Althouse (@SpencerAlthouse) December 31, 2022
An icon. RIP pic.twitter.com/RM9f73d8Vs
Her response was telling, “And I was like, ‘OK, but I’m looking at you, so no.'”
The exchange encapsulates the contradiction Winfrey observed between Walters’ words and her lived experience as a mother struggling to balance a demanding career with raising a daughter.
Walters adopted Jackie with her second husband, theater producer Lee Guber, in 1968 after experiencing the heartbreak of three miscarriages.
For Walters, who was already making her mark on the “Today” show, Jackie’s arrival seemed to complete her world. The trailblazing journalist spoke glowingly about finally having everything she wanted — a successful career and the child she had longed for. However, the reality of balancing both proved far more challenging than she had anticipated.
The relationship between Barbara and Jackie grew increasingly strained as the years passed. Winfrey described Walters’ “charged, complex relationship” with her daughter as shaped by deep differences in temperament and life goals — a dynamic she admitted was “one of the reasons why I never had children.”
Jackie struggled with her mother Barbara’s fame and the expectations that came with being the daughter of one of television’s most recognizable faces. As a teenager, Jackie began using drugs and eventually ran away from home, leading Walters to make the difficult decision to send her to a boarding school for troubled youth.
The demands of Walters’ trailblazing journalism career often left her torn between work and motherhood. She openly acknowledged the impossible balancing act, noting that workplace attitudes toward working mothers were far less accommodating than they are today.
“So Barbara chose her career over Being more of a mom?” said one person in People Magazine’s comments.
Another said, “Barbara Walters didn’t have an ounce of empathy for anyone, her own daughter included. It was completely obviously in the way she destroyed fragile women in interviews and gave a pass to men dealing with similar issues in life.”
Winfrey’s decision about being a mother was also informed by her own traumatic experience with early motherhood.
According to People, at just 14, she gave birth to a premature son named Canaan, who died weeks later — a loss that resulted from sexual abuse she had endured as a child. This painful experience, combined with witnessing Walters’ struggles, possibly helped crystallize her understanding that motherhood wasn’t the path for her.
For Winfrey, who has been with partner Stedman Graham since 1986, observing this struggle provided crucial perspective on her own life choices.
Another of those life choices that she made because of her career is never marrying the love of her life.
While Graham proposed in 1992 and she accepted, Winfrey later admitted she realized she didn’t actually want marriage — she simply wanted to know she was worthy of being asked. Her television career remained her priority, and both understood this fundamental truth.
Winfrey’s honesty about learning from Walters’ experience — both the triumphs and the challenges — offers a nuanced perspective on the complex choices women face in balancing personal desires with professional ambition.
