Barbara Walters Returns to “The View”
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ABC News(NEW YORK) — Barbara Walters returned to The View for the first time since January, after spending more than a month at home recovering from the chicken pox and a concussion.
“Today after a lot of scratching and rest, I am fine and I am healthy,” Walters said, lifting her bangs to show off scars from the pox and a fall she took.
“People have said I should have my head examined,” she joked. “I did and I’m fine.”
Walters fainted and hit her head while visiting the British ambassador’s residence during President Obama’s inauguration in January. She told The View audience that she cut her temple on the marble floor and was rushed to a hospital where she received six stitches.
That’s when doctors discovered “that I had the chicken pox, amazingly.”
Walters, 83, told the live audience Monday that she contacted the pox while visiting a friend in Florida earlier in January. A celebrity, “who shall remain nameless” and was also visiting Walters’ friend, later came down with a case of shingles, which comes from the same virus that causes chicken pox.
The veteran ABC News broadcaster said that she was later brought by ambulance back home to New York. The fall, she said, resulted in a concussion, similar to what happened to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“I got an email from Chelsea Clinton saying she was going to buy her mother and me matching helmets,” Walters said.
Walters was told to rest for the concussion.
“The only cure for concussion was rest,” she said. “The pox came and went weeks ago. The head injury took longer.”
Although she rested, Walters said she was still able to watch The View and scream and yell at the screen.
Monday’s show was filled with surprises to welcome back Walters.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a longtime friend of Walters, arrived bearing flowers, bringing Walters to tears. He also made a pitch to become one of The View co-hosts when his final term as mayor is up.
Other celebrity friends, including Ali Wentworth and Joan and Melissa Rivers taped messages to Walters.
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