MAIN NEWS HEADLINES
June 1 – June 8, 2006 Edition

Barbara Walters
Cancels Contract
With Miramax?

NEW YORK, NY/5/30/2006—Barbara Walters reportedly has canceled a contract with Miramax, thought to be worth somewhere between $4 million and $6 million, for her memoirs because she apparently doesn’t want to reveal details of her personal life, which include a relationship with gay lawyer Roy Cohn, her father Louis Walters’ womanizing and gambling problems, her retarded sister, and her three marriages. However, a spokesperson at ABC told one news outlet that “Barbara is quietly working on her book and there are no problems.” No release date has been set however. Meanwhile Jerry Oppenheimer, author of Walters’s unauthorized biography published in 1990, has put the word out that he is contemplating an updated version of the book. News sources say it isn’t the first time Walters, who some say wants more money, has fled a publisher.

The famous former ABC television anchor The View and former 20/20 is looking elsewhere, possibly to HarperCollins, to publish her memoir, according to the New York Post’s Page Six reports on May 26.

Oppenheimer claimed that Walters signed a deal with Putnam to try to squelch his first book and promptly canceled her contract as soon as Oppenheimer’s book was released.

Walters’ agent, Mort Janklow confirmed that she is out of the Miramax contract, but wouldn’t discuss his clients’ interests.