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It was a skill she developed thanks to her parents, particularly her father.
London-born Louis “Lou” Walters was the founder of New York’s famed Latin Quarter nightclub.
Lou moved to Boston as a young man, where he married his wife, Dena Seletsky Walters.
(Barbara would later name her own daughter, Jacqueline Danforth, after her sister.)
Jackie was born with intellectual disabilities, which at the time, meant her life’s options were limited.
“I didn’t join the Girl Scouts, because Jackie couldn’t.”
Instead, Walters' world revolved around her father’s business and the celebrities he met along the way.
“My father was like Ziegfeld,” Barbara Walters recalled onPBS’s “Finding Your Roots.
“She elaborated, “He did beautiful shows.
He always spent too much money, everything had to be perfect.”
“I was never in awe of celebrities, because they worked for my father,” Walters toldVariety.
“I was curious.
Sadly, Walters wasn’t able to put a memorial on at the time.
“I wouldn’t have known who to call even to arrange a memorial.
It was a terrible year for me.”
