Barbara Walters Married Her Third Husband Twice: A Second Chance at Love

For many people, Barbara Walters was an icon, a trailblazer who broke the glass ceiling, and a pioneer. A successful journalist, she achieved some notable ‘firsts.’ She was the first female co-host of “The Today Show” and the first female evening news anchor on “ABC Evening News.”

She went on to become a trusted interviewer, having enviable conversations with Fidel Castro, Vladimir Putin, and more. When she created “The View” with an all-female panel, the idea was utterly new.

But her personal life was just as interesting as her professional one. She had marriages, romances — and almost romances — with a variety of well-known individuals. However, it’s her marriage to Merv Adelson that gets a lot of attention, because many believed that they had been married to each other twice.

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Merv Adelson and Barbara Walters Met on a Blind Date

Barbara Walters’ third husband was producer Merv Adelson. He was best known for producing episodes of “The Waltons,” “Dallas,” and “Knots Landing.” Two films for which he was an executive producer, “Being There” and “An Officer and a Gentleman,” for which he was uncredited. He also co-founded Lorimar Productions, which Warner Communications eventually acquired, before it was merged into Warner Bros. TV.

It has been widely reported that the two married in 1981, divorced in 1984, and remarried in 1986, only to divorce for a final time in 1992. Interestingly, interviews with both of them have seemed to contradict this.

Adelson claimed that he and Walters met on a blind date in 1985. “My one cocktail with Barbara turned into a long dinner,” he told Variety in 2005. He thought she was a “remarkable woman, funny and warm.” A year later, he proposed, and the two got married that same weekend. Despite the short notice and intention to keep the wedding small, 100 friends, family members, and acquaintances gathered to watch as the pair exchanged their vows.

With Walters in New York for “20/20” and Adelson spending more time in Aspen, Colorado, his marriage to Walters began to crumble. “The bicoastal relationship was tough,” he told Variety.

Merv Adelson and Barbara Walters Remained Friends After Their 1992 Split

Adelson and Walters divorced in 1992, but they still talked often. While Adelson was Walter’s last marriage, according to IMDb, Adelson got married to Thea Joyce Nesis from 1993 to 2003.

After Adelson died in 2015, Walters sent an email to The New York Times. She told them that “Merv was a kind and gentle man with a great sense of humor,” and they “stayed friends long after our marriage.” But she also insisted that they had only been married once.

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