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July 5, 2008 6:22:23 PM CDT

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Barbara Walters Reveals '70s Affair With Married Senator

Posted May 1, 08 3:47 PM CDT in Gossip,  US    Most Covered

(Newser) – Barbara Walters has revealed she had a long affair in the 1970s with Edward Brooke, America’s first elected black senator. In a bombshell admission on a forthcoming episode of Oprah, the grande dame of TV anchors says the married Brooke—a moderate Massachusetts Republican who served in 1967-79—was “exciting” and “brilliant,” the AP reports.

Walters, 78, said she and Brooke hid the affair until now to protect their careers; one friend told her at the time, “This is going to ruin him. You’ve got to break this off.” Asked by Oprah if she and the senator were in love, Walters responded, “I was certainly, I don’t know, I was certainly infatuated.” Brooke, now 88, has since divorced and remarried.

Source Associated Press

Editor Recommended
In this image released by Harpo Productions, journalist Barbara Walters, left, holds the hand of Oprah Winfrey.   (AP Photo/Harpo Productions, George Burns)
In this Sept. 30, 1976 file photo, Barbara Walters smiles as she answers questions.   (AP Photo/Carlos Rene Perez, file)
Former Sen. Edward W. Brooke, 86, signs copies of his book "Bridging the Divide."   (AP Photo)
In this June 7, 1978 file photo, Sen. Edward W. Brooke, R-Mass., is shown in Cambridge, Mass.   (AP Photo/file)
Walters and Brooke   (AP composite)
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