Longtime producer and a close colleague of Barbara Walters, Bill Geddie, spoke to ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Monday about the journalist who passed away last Friday.
Geddie reflected on his time working with Walters, as he started working with Walters in 1988 on her television specials and they later teamed to create “The View” in 1997.
“I’m trying to move past the mourning phase into the celebration of life phase,” Geddie told Robin Roberts (h/t Hollywood Reporter). “It’s an amazing life and it needs to be celebrated.”
When Roberts questioned what the working environment was like for women at the time, Geddie admitted that Walters would not only be subjected to sexism but ageism too.
“I couldn’t believe it. I took over the Barbara Walters specials from the great Phyllis McGrady and I had the best job in television and I told everybody,” Geddie said.
“And I was saying this to some TV executive there, who will remain nameless, a male, who’s long gone and he said ‘Hey, not so fast there kid. You’re 33; she’s 58. Nobody wants to see a woman over age 60 on television. So you got a year, maybe two.’”
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
