Barbara Walters was unafraid to ask tough questions throughout a journalism career that spanned 55 years. In a new documentary titled Tell Me Everything, some of her most cringeworthy and notable interviews are spotlighted, including missteps with Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian, Donald Trump, and Martha Stewart.
Walters pioneered the art of the celebrity interview. She sat down with some of the most noteworthy personalities, political figures and popular stars of over five decades, asking probing questions that were both tough and at times, cringeworthy.
Tell Me Everything spotlights the highs and lows of the newswoman’s career. The trailer features footage from Walters interviews, including those with Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, The Menendez Brothers, and Oprah Winfrey. Additionally, many of Walters’ friends and colleagues were interviewed for the documentary.
The journalist responded with fury when Erik Menendez referred to himself as a “normal kid” in 1996. She responded, “You’re a normal kid who killed your parents.”
Journalist Cynthia McFadden states in the trailer, “No one ever got out totally unscathed. She asked the question that nobody else had asked.” Disney CEO Bob Iger added, “She had a vision that celebrities are news, and she turned out to be right. They were newsmakers.”
“She asked the question that nobody else had asked,” Winfrey said of her interaction with the legendary journalist. “And asked it in a way that always hit a nerve.”
Walters famously stared down the Kardashian clan, including Kim, Khloe, and Kourtney Kardashian, as well as Kris Jenner, stating, “You don’t really act, you don’t sing. You don’t dance. You don’t have any talent.” She also was critical of then-businessman Donald Trump in a 1990 interview where she remarked, “You never say ‘I make mistakes.” She followed that up with, “People don’t think you show any humility.”
In a lighter moment, Walters flirted with Clint Eastwood, who flirted right back. After Eastwood told her he didn’t share emotions easily, she responded, “You would drive me nuts and I would drive you crazy because I would be saying, ‘But, you know.’” He responded, “Well we could try it and see if it worked out.”
After a quick laugh and a second of silence, the newswoman looked off-camera. She quipped to the crew, “I think we’ll stop and reload.”
Walters found a niche for herself in the male-dominated journalism field. The glamorous newswoman believed said in the trailer she was never “beautiful. If I had been a dog, I mean maybe they wouldn’t have put me on television, but I mean, nobody ever put me on because I was beautiful or glamorous.”
Barbara Walters Tell Me Everything premieres Monday, June 23, on Hulu following its world premiere at the 2025 Tribeca Festival on Thursday, June 12
