Barbara Walters has, allegedly, been battling dementia throughout the past three years. And her condition is getting worse.
According to Globe, friends of Barbara Walters are convinced that the end is near for the former The View host.
Barbara Walters doesn’t have long to live?
A source told the tabloid that Walters’ friends believe that her early-onset dementia started three years ago after she stopped posting photos and videos on her social media account.
The insider also said that Walters is spending her finals days at home. She doesn’t remember a lot of the people that she worked with and interviewed.
Barbara Walters doesn’t recognize her friends
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the host’s friends, allegedly, visited her at her home regularly. But since COVID-19, Walters hasn’t had any visitors.
“She is mostly confined to her bed, where she naps most of the time. She has caretakers who stay with her in shifts caring for her, sometimes staying a month at a time,” the source said.
The insider also said that the 91-year-old finds it difficult to differentiate one person from the other.
“She stares at them. She has to be told things over and over because her memory is gone. She’s a virtual skeleton now and so fragile,” the source said.
Rumors debunked
However, there is no proof that Barbara Walters has been diagnosed with dementia. A quick Google search reveals that tabloids are the only ones claiming that she’s suffering from the mental disease.
In July, OK! magazine claimed that Walters was sheltered from the news of Regis Philbin’s death. After all, she didn’t post anything on social media following her friend’s demise.
“Barbara suffers from exhaustion and fatigue, as well as anxiety and agitation. She is very frail and spends a great deal of the day napping!” the source said.
Last year, Radar Online deliberately claimed that Walters is suffering from advanced dementia.
A source claimed that Walters screamed at the sight of Whoopi Goldberg after the latter visited her.
“Barbara’s eyes were opened wide, and she was terrified. Barbara screamed: ‘Who is she? Get out, get out! Help me! Get out.’ She wouldn’t stop. No one could calm her down. Whoopi excused herself from the room. She was heartbroken by what she saw,” the source said.
However, this soap-opera-like allegation about Barbara Walters isn’t true.
Images used courtesy of Christopher Peterson, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons and https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Barbara_Walters_2004.jpg, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons