Barbara Walters Update: She’s Just Not ‘Up To Speaking To People Right Now’

While Barbara Walters hasn’t been heard from in recent years due to her ailing health, former “The View” co-host Rosie O’Donnell has given an update on the famed journalist and the real reason for her step outside the spotlight.

O’Donnell revealed to Us Weekly that Walters is just isn’t “up to speaking to people right now.” Previous reports have indicated that Walters is in poor health struggling with dementia and a heart condition that has left a recluse in her New York apartment.

Walters’ caretakers have taken to making most of the decisions for her, and her closest friends have reportedly stopped visiting the former “The View” star since she doesn’t recognize them anymore.

O’Donnell had only kind words for Walters telling the news outlet, “I’ll always love and respect her and I think she’s a great person.”

Walters celebrated her 90^th birthday on Sept. 25 without her closest friends and family at her side. She hasn’t been seen out in public for three years, which O’Donnell chalked up to the aging process.

She said, “I think she’s a wonderful woman, and it’s hard to age in America, never mind if you’re internationally famous.”

Walters and O’Donnell were on the “The View” together from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2014 to 2015. Walters retired from the show she created in 2014 after 16 seasons. She is still an executive producer.