Here's How Many Grandchildren Barbara Walters Has

After Barbara Walters' heartbreaking death in 2022, the iconic journalist and pioneer was mourned by millions. The amount of broken hearts she left behind in the wake of her passing was a testament to the lives she touched throughout her storied career. But while she boasted accomplishments very few could dream of, Walters also wanted the kind of family life many parents and grandparents who weren't in the public eye were able to enjoy. Despite a strong desire to start her own family, Walters' struggle with infertility prevented her from having kids naturally. However, she refused to give up on her dream of becoming a mother. Eventually, she decided to adopt Jacqueline Dena Guber in 1968 after three miscarriages.

Incidentally, Guber didn't inherit Walters' passion for motherhood. As a result, Walters had no grandchildren since Guber, her only child, didn't want to have any kids of her own. The former "20/20" host respected her daughter's decision, though. In fact, Walters felt Guber's choice represented further progress for women's rights. "That's one of the good things about our society today. Nobody says, 'You don't want children? What's wrong with you?' My mother had friends who were childless, and people looked down on them," Walters once said in an interview with Oprah. Ironically, despite Walters wanting to be a mom, her influence was one of the real reasons her successor, Oprah Winfrey, never had kids, either. 

Winfrey recalled Walters' advice to her, which she took with a grain of salt given Walters' rocky relationship with Guber at the time — a connection Winfrey labeled as complicated and intense. "I remember her telling me once that there's nothing more fulfilling than having children, and 'You should really think about it,'" Winfrey told The Daily Beast. "And I was like, 'OK, but I'm looking at you, so, no.'" Winfrey's admission begs the question of how many career-focused women Walters might've inspired to take the same approach.

Barbara Walters might have supported her daughter Jacqueline Dena Guber's belliefs and preferences on having children, but that didn't mean she liked the decision. That's especially true since Walters wanted to be a grandmother seemingly as badly as she wanted to be a mom. "I love babies," Walters had also revealed to Oprah. "Jackie used to say that she had to watch me in the park 'cause I'd kidnap one. My daughter doesn't particularly want to have children. I would love to have a grandchild. I've told her, 'Have a grandchild and give it to me.'" Their contrasting views on motherhood was just one of the many fundamental differences Walters and Guber had, which initially caused problems in their relationship.

According to Walters' close friend Cynthia McFadden, Guber also didn't inherit Walters' ambition. This helped create a distance between the two that Walters wasn't sure how to mend. "She couldn't understand someone like Jackie, who wasn't racing to the top," McFadden said per People. Walters' lack of grandchildren, and perhaps even her strained relationship with Guber, might've played a part in the "60 Minutes" interviewer trying to live vicariously through other grandparents. It was revealed that Walters had a habit of asking to see friends' pictures of their children and grandchildren, perhaps hoping to admire the family she never had. "She'd tell everyone, 'I so admire your relationship with your children,'" McFadden shared. "She was very regretful about her family life. It was something she felt like she couldn't fix. So that was really tugging at her."