Barbara Walters Reveals Breast Cancer Scare

View host previously revealed she had both of her ovaries removed after her sister died

By Zach Johnson Oct 10, 2014 12:30 PMTags
Barbara WaltersSlaven Vlasic/Getty Images

When Barbara Walters agreed to speak at the Breast Cancer Research Foundation luncheon Thursday, few people knew The View's executive producer had a personal connection to the cause. Standing at the podium, she addressed guests gathered inside the Waldorf Astoria's grand ballroom in New York City.

Walters began her speech by asking the event's host, Good Morning America's Amy Robach, to stand. "There's a lot of talk about me, but I want to share this honor with Amy," the TV journalist, 85, said. "When she discovered she had breast cancer, she handled it in the most magnificent, wise and sensitive way. I think what Amy has done, and the path she has chosen, has saved the lives of many women."

"Some years back, more than five now, I discovered a small lump in my own breast. Under the expert care of [my doctor] I had a lumpectomy," Walters revealed. "I haven't talked about it. There was no need to. There were other choices that were possible. This was mine. I told a few people and I'm fine."

"I've had no recurrence," she continued. "I wasn't worried because I knew that the advances made in treating breast cancer including lumpectomies were possible. Research made my treatment possible."

Walters ended her speech with a bit of humor. "I'll always remember this luncheon," the trailblazing TV anchor said. "Partly because of seeing all of your beautiful faces, and also because my bra is too tight."

Following news of Angelina Jolie's preventative double mastectomy last year, Walters revealed on The View that she'd had both of her ovaries removed. Her sister, Jacqueline, died of ovarian cancer in 1985.