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Barbara Walters just filmed an episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in which she revealed a past affair with an African American senator that lasted several years during the 1970s.
A moderate Republican from Massachusetts who took office in 1967, Senator Edward Brooke was the first African-American to be popularly elected to the Senate. At the time of their secret relationship, the twice-divorced Walters was building a career in TV news as co-host of NBC's "Today" show before moving to ABC News.
Her affair with Brooke, which never came to light, had ended before he lost his bid for a third term in 1978. Walters told Winfrey about a phone call from a friend who urged her to stop seeing the lawmaker.
"He said, 'This is going to come out. This is going to ruin your career,'" then reminded her that Brooke was up for re-election a year later. "'This is going to ruin him. You've got to break this off.'"
Winfrey asks Walters if she was in love.
"I was certainly - I don't know - I was certainly infatuated." "Infatuated."
"I was certainly involved," Walters says. "He was exciting. He was brilliant. It was exciting times in Washington."
Walters was on the "Oprah" show to plug her new memoir, "Audition," which covers her long career in television, as well as her off-camera life including the affair.
