Megyn Kelly ‘Deeply Disturbed’ By Barbara Walters’ Parenting: She ‘Completely Fell Down on the Job’ as a Mother

Megyn Kelly praised the trailblazing work of Barbara Walters following her passing over the weekend, but criticized the journalistic icon for her absentee parenting.

Walters had one child, Jacqueline Dena Guber, whom she adopted in 1968 with then husband Lee Guber.

During the Monday edition of Sirius XM’s The Megyn Kelly Show, Kelly commemorated the life of Walters but also spoke candidly about what she believed to be her personal failings.

Speaking with podcast host Dave Rubin, Kelly said, “There is no question that this woman was a trailblazer in news and accomplished feats that would never really be matched and could never be matched. Because she was the first, you know, the first to do so many things with 20/20 and 60 minutes and on and on.”

“She made it in a time when women weren’t being taken seriously and when it was very hard to be considered as a serious news person, right? And all of us who have come in her wake owe her a debt of gratitude on that front,” she continued.

But Kelly said that Walters’s 2008 memoir, Audition, shed some troubling light on her as a person.

“I actually read that book cover to cover. I read every word in it. And I was deeply disturbed by what I saw,” Kelly said. “What I saw was an incredible person professionally. And I would never take one moment of that away from her. But a woman who completely fell down on the job when it came to her mothering.”

“It was jarring to me, her admissions about her own mothering and also what her book said without her seeming to realize it about her lane there as a mom. She talked about how she adopted a little girl named — she named her Jackie after Barbara’s sister. And the daughter never saw her mother,” Kelly added.

Kelly recalled that in the memoir, Walters wrote about her daughter having behavioral issues. She read an excerpt from the book in which Walters recalled calling her nanny, asking her to turn on The Today Show for her daughter so she could see her mom on the screen before heading to school.

As the conversation continued, Kelly compared the situation to broadcaster Chris Wallace’s own experience with his famous father.

“She loved her career, she thrived on it. It’s the same as Mike Wallace, who was a shitty father to Chris Wallace. And Chris and Mike have talked about it and written about it. But a great journalist, you know, and each of us that has a demanding career has to decide for him or herself just how much to give to each lane,” she said.

“You have to work to find the balance. She never found it. She never found it,” Kelly insisted.

“And to me it was a sad story about the sacrifice of what truly matters for, I think the ultimate artifice of fame, money, accolades, and not even — not even that much friendship and beloved colleague situations. Because I happen to know, you know, Barbara Walters wasn’t that close with a lot of people, even on the job, you know, she was built to do one thing, great interviews, and she fucking nailed it. But this other lane is hugely important and it was neglected,” she added.

Rubin asked if Walters wrote a “mea culpa” at the end of the book — an apology, of sorts, about the mistakes she made in parenting.

“My impression in reading the book was she was clueless about just how much damage she was inflicting on the child,” Kelly replied.

“Wow. Wow,” Rubin said.

“You know, no one made you go adopt this child. You did. Or in other cases you had the child. And I’m not — this is not a bash on working moms and dads. I am one. You are one. It’s — you can’t never be present. You can’t never be present,” she concluded.

Watch above via Sirius XM’s The Megyn Kelly Show.