How Barbara Walters bypassed Secret Service and hid in the bathroom at Camp David Accords, made Monica Lewinsky talk about the Clinton cigar incident and got Sean Connery to admit  was okay to hit a woman, new book reveals

Barbara Walters bagged her biggest interviews by relentlessly charming her subjects and destroying her rivals, a new biography reveals.

The legendary TV journalist, who died aged 93 in 2022, stopped at nothing to get a story because of her 'unrelenting drive to dominate the news'.

Walters landed the first interview with Monica Lewinsky in the wake of her affair with President Bill Clinton by acting like her 'favorite aunt' and pushing out Oprah by offering the former White House intern a controversial deal worth at least $2.6million.

When the cameras started rolling, Walters demanded to know why Lewinsky told a grand jury about her sexual activities with the former President and a cigar.

With few scruples and buckets of ambition, Walters did things veteran journalists would not, like hiding in the visitors' bathroom at Camp David to try and get an exclusive interview with former President Jimmy Carter.

Barbara Walters famously landed the first interview with Monica Lewinsky after the Lewinsky-Clinton scandal in 1999 - after going great lengths to get it, a new book on the late journalist reveals 

A White House intern at the time, Lewinsky made international headlines after it was revealed she had an affair with President Bill Clinton between 1995 and 1997 

Sean Connery's 1987 interview with Barbara Walters would haunt him for the rest of his life  after the late actor infamously told the journalist that it was 'not the worst thing to slap a woman now and then'

She made Ricky Martin squirm by asking him about his sexuality, a move which harmed his career and left him with PTSD.

Walters asked a young Brooke Shields what her measurements were, an intrusive question which left her furious decades later, writes Susan Page in, The Rulebreaker: The Life and Times of Barbara Walters,' available April 23. 

Sean Connery infamously told Walters that he thought it was OK to hit a woman, comments which would haunt him for the rest of his life.

During her 50 years on TV dozens of celebrities like Christopher Reeve and Taylor Swift lined up to be given the Walters treatment: hard questions asked in a soft way.

Nothing was off limits for her sit downs on ABC's 20/20, where she put her focus on people and pushed TV journalism away from hard news, a move which was derided at the time but now seems ahead of its time.

Page writes that the biggest interview for Walters, remains Lewinsky which showcased Walters' indefatigability in pursuit of a story.

The Rulebreaker: The Life and Times of Barbara Walters by Susan Page is out April 23. Page is the Washington Bureau chief of USA TODAY whose previous books have been about Barbara Bush and Nancy Pelosi

The Lewinsky interview took place in 1998, Monica's first since her affair with Clinton. Page calls it the 'epitome of when the big TV interview could cause an earthquake'

'Barbara managed to be both empathetic and skeptical, just like many of those watching,' Page writes.

'When Monica said testifying before the grand jury about intimate details of her relationship with Clinton was 'very, very, violating', Barbara shot back: 'There is a question of why you offered so many intimate details to the prosecutor.

'I mean why, for example, tell them about the cigar business?'

'Monica replied that the grand jury already knew that salacious anecdote from prior testimony from her friends, an explanation that enhanced her credibility'.

Page describes in vivid detail how Walters got the interview by first charming Lewinsky's lawyer William Ginsbury by inviting him to the black tie gala in New York celebrating the 75th anniversary of Time magazine, where Clinton would be among the guests.

The next target was Lewinsky's father Bernard who did a sit-down chat with Walters defending his daughter.

That all led up to a meeting with the big prize: Lewinsky herself. Page writes that Walters turned the charm up to 11 and soon the conversation was like a 'niece with a favorite aunt'.

According to author Susan Page, Walters turned up the charm when courting Lewinsky which saw her successfully land the interview that aired on ABC in March 1999

The interview drew a record audience of 74 million and was what Page calls the 'epitome of when the big TV interview could cause an earthquake'

Lewinsky had been shopping and Walters cooed at her new hats. When Lewinsky said she was 'a good kid growing up' who never did drugs or stole, Walters made her laugh by saying: 'Next time, shoplift'.

The last barrier to Walters bagging the exclusive was Oprah, but the daytime talk queen refused to pay any money to Lewinsky because she thought it was a 'pay-for-play move'.

Walters, by contrast, was 'willing to be innovative in negotiating the financial terms', Page writes.

And to be clear 'Monica needed money', the book says, as she owed $1m in legal bills.

In the end top ABC executive David Westin proposed a 'very unusual' deal that Lewinsky agreed to: ABC wouldn't distribute the interview outside North America, which meant she sold an interview to Channel 4 in the UK for $660,000 and 75 percent of distribution sales.

British magazine Hello! paid her another $500,000 for a photo shoot and she got most of the $1.5 million advance for her authorized biography, written by Andrew Morton, best known for his bombshell book about Princess Diana.

It was all worth it: a staggering 74 million people in the US alone tuned in to watch, with millions more around the world.

Such major interviews helped Walters to get exclusive sit-downs with celebrities like Truman Capote.

Their conversation was so extensive it would serve as a crib sheet for the late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman who played him in the 2005 biopic - he won an Oscar for the part.

Connery, who died in 2020 at the age of 90, originally made the controversial comments in a previous 1965 interview but doubled down on his stance when grilled by Walters years later 

Resurfaced clips of the infamous interview went viral after in the wake of Walters's death in December 2022 

After sitting down with Grace Kelly after she married Prince Rainier III of Monaco and became Princess Grace, Walters asked her: 'Are you happy?'

Kelly answered that she had had 'many happy moments in my life' but once the cameras were off she began to cry.

Walters made news again when the late Prince Philip of England suggested that his wife, the late Queen Elizabeth II, might abdicate and turn the throne over to Prince Charles.

Walters had to write a note of apology to Philip, who responded by telling her not to worry.

Other celebrities who sat down with Walters included George Clooney and his wife Amal, Elon Musk and Oprah.

In 1980 Walters created a storm when she asked Richard Nixon: 'Are you sorry you didn't burn the tapes?'

He replied that he 'probably should have', the first time he made such an admission.

So many interviews with Walters ended in tears it became a trope.

Among them was the late actor Patrick Swayze who wept while talking about how he hoped he made his father proud.

But not every interview went well and Walters infamously told Bradley Cooper in 2015 he was 'very screwable'.

At the time she was 86 and he was 40, young enough to be her grandson.

Another vintage Walters moment was asking Carter, then the president-elect, and his wife Rosalynn whether they slept in a double or a twin bed. 

Surprisingly, Carter answered candidly and said a double. 

Walters sat down with actress Grace Kelly after she married Prince Rainier III of Monaco and became Princess Grace in 1961 during which she asked her a simple, but confronting question: 'Are you happy?'

At the time, Kelly answered that she had had 'many happy moments in my life' but once the cameras stopped she began to cry

Barbara Walters was the first to interview late actor Patrick Swayze at his California ranch on December 2008 since he revealed he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer

Walters tried to get Amy Schumer to admit that she had faked an orgasm during an interview to promote the movie Trainwreck, but she refused.

A young Brooke Shields blushed when Walters asked her: 'What are your measurements?' when she appeared in the Calvin Klein commercial that made her a star.

Speaking years later, Shields said: 'I thought: 'This isn't right. I don't understand what this is. But I just behaved and just smiled and felt so taken advantage of in so many ways'.

According to Shields, Walters's question was 'practically criminal' and 'not journalism'.

Another difficult exchange was with Ricky Martin in 2000 where Walters pressed him to essentially out himself as gay.

She said: 'You could stop these rumors. You could say: 'Yes, I am gay, or no, I am not'.

Page writes that Martin looked 'stunned' and replied: 'I just don't feel like it'.

Martin wouldn't come out for another decade but 'two decades later, the memory of that moment still made him uncomfortable', Page writes.

Page quotes Martin as saying: 'When she dropped that question I felt violated because I was just not ready to come out. There's a little PTSD with that'.

The book says: 'Martin's refusal to answer the question prompted some to assume he was gay and it hurt his career, Barbara said later. 

'When I think back on it now I feel it was an inappropriate question', she said.

According to the book, Walters hated interviewing Warren Beatty because his answers were 'monosyllabic'.

Al Gore was a dud because he resisted efforts to talk about the disputed 2000 election.

In a 1981 interview with a young Brooke Shields, Walters asked the model, 'What are your measurements?' after she had appeared in the Calvin Klein commercial that made her a star

Shields spoke out about the interview 40 years later in 2021, saying Walters's question was 'practically criminal' and 'not journalism'

But for every awkward moment, another headline wasn't far off.

In 1987 Sean Connery told Walters it was 'not the worst thing to slap a woman now and then'.

Walters asked him about his comments to Playboy magazine in 1967 in which he said: 'I don't think there is anything particularly wrong about hitting a woman, although I don't recommend doing it in the same way that you'd hit a man'.

The James Bond star said that an 'openhanded slap' was allowable if 'all other alternatives fail and there has been plenty of warning'.

'If a woman is a b***, or hysterical, or bloody-minded continually, then I'd do it,' he told the magazine.

Walters appeared shocked and asked Connery if he still believed that

'I haven't changed my opinion', Connery said.

Walters cut in: 'You think it's good to slap a woman?'

Connery said: 'I don't think it's good. I don't think it's bad. But it depends entirely on the circumstances and if it merits it'.

What might 'merit' slapping a woman, Walters asked.

Connery said: 'Well, if you have tried everything else – and women are pretty good at this, they can't leave it alone.

'They want to have the last word, and you give them the last word, but they're not happy with the last word. They want to say it again, and get into a really provocative situation. Then, I think it's absolutely right'.

Walters interviewed Fidel Castro in 1977 - one of her most celebrated pieces

In 2001 at a small dinner party Mitchell told Walters that she had an interview with Fidel Castro to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Walters organized her own sit-down with the Cuban leader and persuaded Castro not to talk to Mitchell. Pictured in 2002

Walters was notoriously unrelenting in her pursuit for a story, while conquering NBC then ABC News. In this 1991 ABC News photo, rivals Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walters are pictured with their male counterparts 

Walters spent 12 years pursuing Mark David Chapman, John Lennon's killer, for his first TV interview.

Every year on the anniversary of the killing she wrote him a letter until, worn down by her endless pursuit, he finally agreed to speak to her.

Her first question? 'Why did you kill John Lennon?'

The interview caused a storm for giving Chapman a major platform like the ABC show 20/20, but it was undeniably newsworthy.

On rare occasions Walters covered for her subjects like Betty Ford, the former First Lady, who appeared inebriated during a 1976 interview in the White House.

Walters didn't air the audio of her slurring her words.

With uncharacteristic modesty, Walters later said that 'if (Ford) had a drinking problem, I wasn't going to be the one to expose her'.

Walters' interview with Fidel Castro in 1977 was his first proper sit-down chat with a journalist in 16 years.

She arrived in Havana expecting a fearsome Communist commander, instead she was greeted by a gregarious and chatty man who drove her around himself and made her grilled cheese sandwiches.

But as Page writes, Castro was clearly enamored with Walters, at one point asking her to hold his revolver while they drove to a village in the country to distribute goods to some villagers.

Castro even taught her the lyrics to one of his favorite songs, 'Cielito Lindo', which has been translated as 'Pretty Little Darling'.

As Page writes, Walters considered her 'feminine wiles a useful asset' to be deployed in the service of bagging an exclusive.

Walters, who became the first woman to co-host a US news program on NBC's Today Show, became known for asking hard questions in a soft way

A new biography on TV legend Barbara Walters reveals her callousness toward other women in the industry who she viewed as competition

Walters, who became an expert in handling powerful men, once remarked: 'I love to flirt and be flirted with'.

The ABC producers on the trip with her saw an 'unmistakable spark between them', Page writes.

And while Walters insisted they did not have a romance, she admitted later that Castro was a 'magnetic personality'.

David Westin, who later became President of ABC News and was there for Walters' second interview with Castro in 2001 told Page: 'There was chemistry'.

Page writes: 'Walters' protestations, which turn on how to define the word 'romance', didn't squelch the speculation'.

Even Castro appeared to acknowledge how powerless he was to Walters' charms, telling her after their 2001 conversation that he had fallen into her 'terrible hands' once again.

Another major standout moment for Walters was her joint interview with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1977, the first time the two political foes ever sat down together and spoke.

Walters had already arranged for an interview with Begin during Sadat's visit to Israel, but he surprised her by saying he had asked Sadat if he would speak with her too, and he agreed.

After the two men finished addressing the Knesset, they went to a side room where they sat with Walters for 40 minutes expressing their admiration for each other.

Walters's 'jaw-dropping audacity' was evident again in 1978 when she hid in the bathroom at Camp David in an attempt to score an exclusive interview with President Jimmy Carter or the Israeli delegation by bypassing the Secret Service

Among her most memorable career moments was her joint interview with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1977, the first time the two political foes ever sat down together and spoke 

Page calls it a 'groundbreaking' interview and it left the likes of Walter Cronkite, the legendary CBS newsman, shocked they had been beaten by a woman.

A year later, Carter invited Begin to Camp David to figure out the details of the deal with Sadat, and Walters was there too.

But as all the other journalists got on the bus to leave, there was a problem: one person was missing.

During the search that followed, a pair of feet in a stall of the visitor's restroom were spotted - and Walters was ordered to come out.

The plot was, as Page calls it, 'jaw-dropping in its audacity': an attempt to score an exclusive interview with Carter or the Israeli delegation by bypassing the Secret Service at an official Presidential retreat.

Two years later and Walters was not done breaking the rules.

In 1979 while in Jerusalem as Carter negotiated the final points of the peace deal, known as the Camp David Accords, she flew to Cairo to try and get an interview with Sadat.

It was 11pm when she finally arrived at his residence and a security guard declined to pass on a message, so Walters threw pebbles at the window to try to get Sadat's attention but it didn't work.

Speaking later, Walters was stunned she was not arrested.