The Woman's Network

Although Brooke did not object when Walters wrote him that she planned to spill their ancient secret, why go public now? "I thought, in a way, it was history," she says. But the motivation also touches on Walters's sense of her public image.

"I think there is this feeling that I am somewhat austere and I ask all the questions. I thought, well, let people know I have a human side and had a few interesting romances."

Walters, a Boston native who graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and started out in public relations, was hired by NBC as a "Today" writer and producer in 1961 and got a few on-air opportunities, including an assignment to follow Jackie Kennedy to India and Pakistan the following year. But Don Hewitt, the future "60 Minutes" producer, told her she'd never make it on the air because she didn't "have the right looks" or pronounce her r's right.

Still, in 1964 she joined Hugh Downs -- a former game show guy who became a "Today" host (and was reunited with Walters on "20/20" decades later) -- as a sidekick for $750 a week. She was not, however, a co-host.

Over time Walters began landing high-profile interviews, including a 1971 sit-down with Richard Nixon, and hosting a talk show she renamed "Not for Women Only." But she felt she had little leverage when McGee joined the show and made her life miserable.

"I couldn't go in and demand anything," Walters says. "I had to somehow make sure Frank didn't get me fired, which he would have if he could have."

When McGee died of cancer in 1974, Walters became the first woman to co-host a network morning show.

In 1976 she agonized over an offer to co-anchor the "ABC Evening News." When the proposed salary leaked, Walters became known in the press as the "Million-Dollar Baby." She eventually succumbed to the notion that she would make broadcast history. But NBC played hardball, leaking word that the network had cut off negotiations after Walters demanded a private limo and full-time hairdresser -- both of which, Walters says, she already had.

The move was a disaster. Walters had never discussed the pairing with co-anchor Harry Reasoner, who made little effort to hide his hostility on the air. On the debut newscast, Reasoner said, "I've kept time on your stories and mine tonight. You owe me four minutes." It was no joke -- his pals in the crew would use a stopwatch and he would demand longer pieces to match hers. The broadcast languished in third place.

The parallel to what happened when Katie Couric left "Today" in 2006 is inescapable, and the two women have commiserated. Walters says the situation may be harder for Couric because she is CBS's solo anchor. ABC extricated Walters by making her a roving anchor and launching the prime-time specials that revived her career.

Walters sometimes took herself too seriously -- she initially hated Gilda Radner's "Baba Wawa" impression on "Saturday Night Live" but came to appreciate it after meeting Radner -- and could give her critics ammunition. Walters ended a 1976 interview with the newly elected Jimmy Carter by beseeching him, "Be wise with us, Governor. Be good to us." She admits she deserved the mockery that followed.

Walters has interviewed everyone from Fidel Castro to Saddam Hussein to Martha Stewart ("Martha, why do so many people hate you?") and last year considered a sit-down with O.J. Simpson before deciding she didn't want to help him sell books.