Barbara Walters’ Daughter, Jackie Guber, Had a Troubled Childhood

Although the media industry changes every other decade, many who follow or are part of it can agree that there will never be another Barbara Walters. The charismatic, blunt journalist was unafraid to ask the tough questions to anyone brave enough to sit across from her in an interview. During her illustrious career, she inspired generations of female-identifying journalists, including Oprah Winfrey, Diane Sawyer, and Tamron Hall, among others.

While the journalists who came after her had no problem referring to her as the “mother” of broadcast media before and after her death in December 2022, Barbara was a real-life mother to her only child, Jacqueline Dena Guber, whom she affectionately called Jackie. When The View creator died, her daughter didn’t speak about her mother publicly, making many wonder what happened to her.

As of this writing, Barbara’s daughter, Jackie, is doing just fine. However, according to People, she famously stays away from the spotlight. In 2014, during her retirement special, Barbara explained that her daughter had found fame “difficult all her life because she wants to be anonymous, she just doesn't like to be a celebrity,” adding that she believed “she may be the only one in the world who doesn't like to be a celebrity."

The anchor and her ex-husband, Lee Guber, adopted Jackie as a newborn following three miscarriages. Soon after the adoption, Barbara’s career flourished, which she shared made her and her daughter’s relationship incredibly challenging. Her longtime friend and former NBC correspondent Cynthia McFadden said that she often felt inadequate as a mother, especially when Jackie struggled to fit in as a child.

"She couldn't understand someone like Jackie, who wasn't racing to the top," McFadden told the outlet. "They were just so dispositionally and physically unlike each other. It was a struggle. That's not to say they didn't love each other, but it wasn't what she'd hoped for, and probably not what Jackie had hoped for either. "

According to a 2024 biography on Barbara written by Susan Page, The Rulebreaker: The Life & Times of Barbara Walters, Jackie struggled with substance abuse in her teen years and experimented with "drinking booze, popping Quaaludes, and smoking pot.” She also admitted to NBC in 2002 that she found solace in running away from home, including a time in 1984 when her mom reportedly hired a Green Beret soldier to retrieve her from New Mexico.

“I was a runaway,” Jackie told NBC. “I loved to run. I thought running would solve all my problems.”

Despite Jackie’s teen rebellion, she eventually turned her life around. In 1999, Jacqueline relocated to Maine from Oregon and later established a therapeutic program for troubled teens called New Horizons. Unfortunately, the program ended in 2008 due to financial issues.

Jackie and Barbara also worked on their relationship in their later years together. Still, the 20/20 host spent most of her daughter’s adulthood wishing they were closer.

“She’d tell everyone, ‘I so admire your relationship with your children,’” McFadden said. “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."

Jackie was also noticeably absent during her mother’s June 2025 documentary, Barbara Walters Tell Me Everything. However, according to the documentary’s director, Jackie Jesko's interview with The Hollywood Reporter about the documentary, the film was made with Barbara’s daughter’s blessing, though she didn’t want to make a public appearance.

“People who know her told us in advance that it was unlikely that she’d want to do anything with the film,” Jesko explained. “She was aware it was being made.”