Inside Barbara Walters' 'strained' relationship with daughter — what happened?

Barbara Walters' documentary Barbara Walters Tell Me Everything, is stirring up the internet with its vulnerable and truthful content. The TV legend, who passed away in December 2022, was captured in archival footage getting transparent about her difficult relationship with her daughter Jackie Danforth, now 56.

During the Hulu documentary, the late TV host honestly shared the reasoning behind their complicated bond, which centered around her successful career being the priority over motherhood, and how the industry has changed over time.

Barbara shared in the documentary: "Today, people are more accepting. You can bring your kid to the office. In those days, if I brought Jackie into the studio, it would be as if I had bought a dog who was not housebroken."

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The documentary also interviewed Jackie, who provided a very telling response to being asked by NBC correspondent Cynthia McFadden: "What was harder, being adopted or being Barbara Walters' daughter?"

Without hesitation, Jackie responded: "Being Barbara Walters' daughter." Cynthia provided her own personal insight about how remorseful Barbara felt about her strained relationship.

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She explained: "She'd tell everyone, 'I so admire your relationship with your children.' She was very regretful about her family life. It was something she felt she couldn't fix. So that was really tugging at her."

Cynthia believes that it was Barbara's constant and demanding schedule that caused their rift. The journalist added: "Barbara was always flying somewhere, interviewing someone."

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As Jackie got older, Cynthia believes it got harder and harder for her to find common ground with her daughter, because she wasn't as ambitious as Barbara was.

Cynthia recalled: "She couldn't understand someone like Jackie, who wasn't racing to the top. They were just so dispositionally and physically unlike each other. It was a struggle."

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Although Cynthia was honest about their relationship's lows, she remained empathetic about the tough situation.

She expressed: "That's not to say they didn't love each other, but it wasn't what she's hoped for, and probably not what Jackie had hoped for either. I think it's important to say that Jackie shouldn't be held accountable for any of this and Barbara wouldn't have wanted her to be. I think this [struggle] was really on the adult side of the equation here. Jackie is a delightful person."

Barbara became a first-time mother in 1968. The TV host adopted Jackie with Lee Guber, who was her second husband. She suffered from three miscarriages.