Walters admits affair with ex-Sen. Brooke

NEW YORK, May 1 (UPI) -- Broadcast journalist Barbara Walters reveals in her new memoir she had an affair in the 1970s with former Sen. Edward Brooke, R-Mass., while he was married.

Walters said in her book, "Auditions," her relationship with Brooke -- the first black member of the U.S. Senate since the Reconstruction -- nearly ended both their careers, the New York Daily News reported Thursday.

The co-host of TV's "The View" said Brooke's wife threatened to expose his relationship with Walters to the National Enquirer after Brooke told her he wanted a divorce.

"I slowly began asking myself if we could ever be married. Would such a marriage destroy his career? Would it destroy mine?" the News said Walters mused in the book.