Barbara Walters had a long, very public love life that included three marriages, several high‑profile romances, and at least one admitted affair.

Her husbands

Barbara Walters was married three times, all ending in divorce.

  • Robert Henry Katz – Her first husband, a business executive she married in 1955; the marriage was short‑lived and annulled or ended within a few years.
  • Lee Guber – A theater producer; they married in 1963 and divorced in the mid‑1970s.
  • Merv Adelson – A television producer and Lorimar executive; they married, divorced, remarried in the 1980s, and split for good in the early 1990s.

Quick husbands table (HTML)

html

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Husband</th>
      <th>Profession</th>
      <th>Approx. marriage years</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>Robert Henry Katz</td>
      <td>Business executive [web:5][web:9]</td>
      <td>1955–c.1957/58 [web:1][web:5][web:9]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Lee Guber</td>
      <td>Theater producer [web:1][web:5][web:7][web:9]</td>
      <td>1963–mid‑1970s [web:1][web:5][web:7][web:9]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Merv Adelson</td>
      <td>TV producer / Lorimar executive [web:1][web:5][web:7][web:9]</td>
      <td>1980s–early 1990s (two separate marriages) [web:1][web:5][web:7][web:9]</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

Famous relationships and dates

Beyond her husbands, Walters dated and was linked to several prominent men.

  • Edward W. Brooke – Massachusetts senator; Walters revealed in her memoir that they had a secret affair in the 1970s while he was married.
  • Alan Greenspan – Future chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve; she dated him in the 1970s and has said she sometimes saw him while also dating another man with a similar name.
  • John Warner – U.S. senator from Virginia, known for his previous marriage to Elizabeth Taylor; Walters was romantically linked to him in the 1990s.
  • Roy Cohn – Powerful (and controversial) lawyer and fixer; Walters described him as a friend who later became a romantic interest and helped her with the adoption of her daughter.
  • Robert N. Butler – Pulitzer Prize–winning gerontologist; she reportedly dated him around 2007.

Quick dating/affair table (HTML)

html

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Name</th>
      <th>Role / Claim to fame</th>
      <th>Connection to Barbara Walters</th>
      <th>Approx. period</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>Edward W. Brooke</td>
      <td>U.S. senator from Massachusetts [web:1][web:3][web:9]</td>
      <td>Secret romantic affair, later admitted in her memoir [web:1][web:3][web:9]</td>
      <td>1970s [web:1][web:3][web:9]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Alan Greenspan</td>
      <td>Future Federal Reserve chairman [web:3][web:5][web:7]</td>
      <td>Dated; she wrote she sometimes dated him alongside another man named Greenberg [web:5]</td>
      <td>1970s [web:3][web:5]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>John Warner</td>
      <td>U.S. senator from Virginia [web:3][web:7]</td>
      <td>Reported romantic relationship after his marriage to Elizabeth Taylor [web:7]</td>
      <td>1990s [web:3][web:7]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Roy Cohn</td>
      <td>Lawyer and political fixer [web:1][web:5]</td>
      <td>Friend turned romantic interest; helped with her daughter’s adoption [web:1][web:5]</td>
      <td>Primarily late 1960s–1970s [web:1][web:5]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Robert N. Butler</td>
      <td>Gerontologist, Pulitzer Prize winner [web:3]</td>
      <td>Dated later in life, around 2007 [web:3]</td>
      <td>Mid‑2000s [web:3]</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

Gossip, nuance, and “who did she date” today

In current forum and gossip‑style discussions, people usually highlight:

  • Her “power‑player” dating pattern: senators, major lawyers, a future Fed chair, and influential TV executives.
  • The Edward Brooke affair as the most talked‑about revelation, because it involved race, politics, and secrecy in the 1970s.
  • The contrast between her public image as a pioneering interviewer and her very complicated private life, which newer documentaries and retrospectives keep bringing back into the spotlight.

So, in short, when people ask “who did Barbara Walters date,” they’re usually referring to that long list of high‑profile men: her three husbands (Katz, Guber, Adelson), her affair with Senator Edward Brooke, and her relationships with Alan Greenspan, John Warner, Roy Cohn, Robert N. Butler, and a few other less‑publicized names noted in biographies and memoir coverage.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.