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Barbara Walters vs. Star Jones: The Claws Are Out
Star Jones by Jesse Grant/ WireImage.com, Barbara Walters by Donna Svennevik/ABC
Oh, it is so on!
While promoting her memoir Audition on Oprah this week, Barbara Walters said she knowingly lied about former View cohost Star Jones' weight loss. Walters said she told the audience at the request of Jones that her fellow Viewer lost more than 150 pounds from 2002-03 through pilates and healthy eating, when in fact Babs knew gastric bypass surgery was to credit. "[Star] decided she would tell nobody, and we had to then lie on the set every day," she said.
Jones responded via an interview with Us, knocking her former boss for, among other things, outing a philandering senator in the course of her book tour. "It is a sad day when an icon like Barbara Walters in the sunset of her life is reduced to publicly branding herself as an adulterer, humiliating an innocent family with accounts of her illicit affair and speaking negatively against me all for the sake of selling a book. It speaks to her true character." Meow!
What's your take? Was Jones just in asking her pals to fib about her "fitness"? Is Walters going overboard in drumming up buzz for her book? Which is it for you: Team Star or Team Barbara? J.R. Whalen
Related:
Watch Video: Babs Admits to Affair With Married Politician
Feature Q&A: Barbara Walters Gets Personal in Her Audition
Watch Video: Barbara Walters Tells Barack Hes "Very Sexy"
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May 7, 2008 3:35 PM
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Ah, so finally, the truly venomous tone of what's in Star Jones' heart oozes to the surface. Whatever happened to your standard, syrupy, "Well, bless her heart", Star???
The worst kept secret, of course, is that none of us were ever taken in by Jones' phony facade!
(rubbing hands together gleefully)
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May 7, 2008 5:05 PM
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Star Jones is an idiot if she thinks that the American public wasn't smart enough to figure out her weight loss was from surgery! Pilates and eating right! GMAB! It was such a drastic weight loss, she's a jerk if she thinks we were fooled! And now she doesn't even look like a normal person.
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May 7, 2008 5:07 PM
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Star: Go shine somewhere else.
No one cares about you.
And you are smoking ROCK if you think Americans bought that you lost your weight through exercise.
FAT ROCK...
Star should be apologizing to Barbara and the rest of the girls for making them lie about such crap.
But of course she won't.
Cuz the only thing Star knows about class is she took them in law school.
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May 7, 2008 5:13 PM
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Barbara Walters is class. Star Jones is crass. Nuff said.
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May 7, 2008 5:21 PM
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You know who the winner of "The View" implosion of the last few years is? Meredith Vieira.
So help me, I think I'm kinda-sorta-agreeing with Star. (Hear me out, now...) So BW says she lied to "protect" Star. She also claims to have lied to "protect" Rosie. (Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that makes someone a liar - what an AWESOME trait for a supposed journalist.) Of course, this "protection" ended when it served her purpose. To top it off, she dusts off a 30-year old, long dead affair for publicity's sake. Class act? What class is that?
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May 7, 2008 5:28 PM
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Chick Fight! To be honest--I don't think anyone bought the pilates and healthy eating/living routine. I am surprised that Barbara Walters is lowering herself into the mud for a wrestling match--just did a mind visual--ack!--my eyes!
--
Edited by PatMc
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May 7, 2008 5:43 PM
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Shut Up Starr. Incase you haven't noticed, nobody cares what you have to say.
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May 7, 2008 5:44 PM
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First of all - Star Jones is an idiot. To not tell the truth up front about her weight loss (when we could all guess) was stupid and insulting to her audience. Secondly, she is desperate now that she is no longer on TV. I have never been able to stand her.
One question about Barbara's book....does she talk about all the plastic surgery she has had?
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May 7, 2008 5:45 PM
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I'm not a huge fan of Star Jones, but Barbara Walters is NO class act. She is the biggest name dropper ever. I never even like the View when she's on. I'd rather watch a guest host. When she's on, the others don't even act the same. It's like they're blatantly kissing up to her. It's so irritating. Bringing up a 30 year old affair to sell her book and dragging out all the Rosie and Star drama is just tacky. I would never read her book.
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May 7, 2008 5:46 PM
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I have to agree with tvcrazy! I am no fan of Starr's but surprisingly I have to agree with her in this case.
Who cares how she got thin? Doesn't she deserve to have some privacy? She only responded when asked or it came up. She wanted to keep some of her business private. Yes, I think that we all knew that she had to have had help medically to take off all of that weight so quickly, but honestly who cares how she did it. She's healthier now and if she is happy with how she looks then good for her.
And it does seem like Barbara is selling out a lot of the people that she claims to have cared about in order to sell lots of books.
I really don't have a lot of respect for either woman at this point.
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May 7, 2008 6:06 PM
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In Barbara's defense, she's spent a career drilling interviewees on all aspects of their careers and lives. It's only fair that she's questioned in the same way. Did she have to reveal the affair, probably not? But she did tell him about it first, and from what I've read, there's only a few pages about it in the book....maybe 6 tops.
As for Star Jones, she needs to get her head out of the sand. She lied, and she changed. Anyone who watched even a few episodes of The View in that time would know she was lying about her weight loss, and she became obsessed about her wedding. Pimping it out on the show to get free things was just tacky and crass. Barbara was only saying what the viewers already knew.
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May 7, 2008 6:08 PM
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I have no dog in this fight (so to speak) as I really don't care for either one. If pressed, I would admit that Star Jones is MUCH farther down on my list than Baba Wawa, but still... when was the last time Barbara did a hard-hitting interview and "grilled" anyone? All she does is schmooze with celebrities and present fluff pieces during sweeps months. She's worse than Larry King!
As for Star... what with her commercialized wedding and the "lie" about her weight loss, I think she's lost all credibility with responsible and intelligent viewers.
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May 7, 2008 6:19 PM
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I have to say two things.
1) I have a new outlook on Barbara Walters. She showed no shame whatsoever on Oprah over the fact that she had an ongoing two year affair with a married man. She is just trying to make some money from her book. She is not classy at all.
2) I don't know why everyone thinks they have a right to know everything. What is it anyones business if she wants to be private about her weight loss. She was probably very embarrassed to say she had the surgery. Doesn't anyone deserve the right to privacy anymore?
So what if they asked the view people not to talk about it. I think she has the right to keep that private.
I doubt she thought anyone didn't think it was surgery, but she was probably ashamed to admit it.
What is amazing is that for Star she threw her under the bus for twenty minutes, but when it came to Rosie, she says "lets leave it at that ..."
Rosie is a vile person, she deserves no respect.
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May 7, 2008 6:35 PM
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Two very BIG egos, who both care more about their own image than anything else, and who are both willing to say and do whatever it takes to sell their point of view or their own belief, even if it hurts others. Greed, selfishness and arrogance do not make anyone "classy" or worthy of my respect.
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May 7, 2008 6:37 PM
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