Barbara Walters Honored on ‘The View’ 4 Days After Her Death: ‘She Was the Original Role Model for Everybody Else’

usmagazine.com:

Forever in our hearts. The View cohosts paid tribute to long-time host and creator of the show Barbara Walters in the first episode following her death on Friday, December 30.“Tributes are pouring in from around the world to celebrate the life of Barbara Walters and today we are remembering our friend and colleague — and the reason why we are all sitting here.

If not for her, I don’t know where most of us would be,” Whoopi Goldberg shared at the start of the show, which aired on Tuesday, January 3.Joy Behar, who has been a cohost on the show since 1997, reflected on Walters’ legacy as well.“People have been talking about her on all of the shows but we knew her better than anyone.

We had dinners with her, we hung out with her and we fooled around with her,” the comedian, 80, explained. “The thing about her is she very much defied sexism and she defied ageism.”Behar added: “She started The View when she was 68 years old — very few people start a new career at that age.

And also, she had no mentors or role models because she was the original role model for everybody else.”Goldberg, 67, noted that Walters left a special mark on those who came after her, adding, “The industry had to respect her, she did not allow them not to respect her.”During the talk show, the hosts were joined by Debbie Matenopoulos, Star Jones, Meredith Vieira and more former coworkers who shared their own stories about Walters.The View announced on social media on Sunday, January 1 that they would be honoring the legendary journalist on Tuesday morning.“.#TheView was her idea, her passion, her show,” the show wrote in an Instagram post at the time. “Tuesday morning, join us on @theviewabc as we celebrate the one and only Barbara Walters.”Two days prior,