by Tim Gordon
In Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything, director Jackie Jesko crafts a deeply reverent yet clear-eyed portrait of the woman who all but defined modern broadcast journalism.
With heavyweight executive producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer backing the project under their Imagine Documentaries banner, this 2025 documentary weaves archival footage with candid reflections from colleagues, friends, and admirers, including Oprah Winfrey, Joy Behar, Connie Chung, and Katie Couric.
Walters’ life is a testament to ambition and resilience. Beginning her career in 1951, just four years after television’s commercial boom, she quickly became the medium’s “First Lady.” But as Jesko’s film reveals, that crown came at a cost. Walters’ professional ascension into the platinum standard for news reporting mirrored a personal life that saw her married four times and wrestling with the regret of not having more children.
The film doesn’t shy away from the sexism that plagued her early days. At a time when the notion of a woman reporting on politics or global conflicts seemed laughable to male executives, Walters carved out space with a trademark interviewing style that combined warmth with unflinching curiosity. From presidents to pop icons to dictators, her guest list reads like a 20th-century time capsule: Nixon to Obama, Castro to Saddam Hussein, Katharine Hepburn to Monica Lewinsky.
Yet what makes Tell Me Everything more than just a highlight reel is its introspection. Jesko digs into Walters’ family upbringing, revealing insecurities and self-doubt behind the poised TV persona. There’s a lovely moment late in the film where the tables are turned—Walters, the queen of questions, becomes the subject, sharing her perspectives with a rawness rarely seen on camera.
Her legacy is undeniable: The documentary rightly credits Walters with breaking barriers that paved the way for the likes of Diane Sawyer, Jane Pauley, and Katie Couric. The scenes revisiting the creation of The View remind us that even late in her career, she was still reinventing what women’s voices could mean on television.
If there’s a quibble, it’s that the film sometimes slips into hagiography, never fully reconciling how Walters’ relentless pursuit of the next big interview sometimes overshadowed the personal connections she longed for. Still, by the final reel, it’s clear: Barbara Walters didn’t just cover the news, she made it.
Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything is a fitting tribute to a broadcast titan who spent her life getting others to talk, but in the end, finally tells us everything about herself.
Grade: B