Barbara Walters’ Dementia Leaves Ex-'The View' Star Frail & Fading Away In NYC Apartment, Sources Reveal
Sept. 27 2022, Published 5:00 p.m. ET
Failing recluse Barbara Walters has been spending her final days in a tragic prison of pain, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Whoopi Goldberg gave Barbara, 93, a birthday shoutout this week on The View but viewers raised questions about the legendary newscaster due to her being MIA since 2016.
The TV icon hasn’t been seen in public since 2016. Walters has been suffering from advanced dementia, according to sources, the brains behind The View is said to rarely leave her bed and doesn't even recognize her famous friends.”
“Barbara suffers from exhaustion and fatigue, as well as anxiety and agitation,” spilled an insider. “She’s very frail and spends a great deal of the day napping!”
Visitors are turned away from her New York digs, where sources said she is deteriorating so rapidly that ABC News is preparing her obituary and former colleagues whisper that her end is very near.
While protective pals and the star’s rep insisted she was fine in 2019, a source close to the newswoman said, “Barbara is fading a little more every day. She’s close to the end and her team is scrambling to manage affairs just the way Barbara would want them.”
“Sadly, her dementia has been getting worse. [Her] caretaker give her the opportunity to make everyday decisions, but more often than not she’ll stare at them blankly. The source added The View ladies still reach out: “On good days, Barbara can distinguish Joy Behar’s voice, but on a bad day, she might just hang up!”
The source noted that caretakers get the impression her mind “turns off, like a blank screen on a television.”
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As RadarOnline.com reported, Barbara in her more lucid moments was still phoning into The View to give girls a piece of her mind, insiders claimed.
Friends revealed that Barbara has become a prisoner in her swanky pad overlooking Central Park, where she is wheelchair bound and said to be suffering from hearing loss and heart disease. They said her dementia is so advanced that she couldn’t recognize Whoopi Goldberg whose recent visit sent the one-time media powerhouse into a screaming fit, a spy claimed in 2019.
Meanwhile, another source said that ABC is preparing a final tribute: “They want to be ready for the day that Barbara finally signs off for good!”
