TV journalist Barbara Walters announces retirement date

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Walters, 84, announced her plans to retire from television nearly a year ago in a tearful appearance on "The View," saying she was healthy and it was her decision to step down.

"This is what I want to do," she said. "I've had an amazing career."

Walters has suffered from health problems recently, including a concussion after she fainted and hit her head last year and a bout of chickenpox. In 2010, she had open heart surgery.

Since announcing her retirement, she hosted "20 Years of the 10 Most Fascinating People," the final show of her yearly special program about intriguing personalities.

During her long career, Walters was known for her interviews on US television with world leaders including Cuba's Fidel Castro, Britain's Margaret Thatcher, Saddam Hussein of Iraq and every US president since Richard Nixon.

She also interviewed celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor, Angelina Jolie and Tom Cruise.

Walters began her career in television journalism in 1961 as a writer for NBC's "Today" morning news show and later became the first woman to co-host.

She broke more ground in 1976 when she joined ABC and became the first woman to co-anchor an evening news broadcast on any US network. Walters has also worked as a producer and host of the ABC news magazine "20/20" and as a correspondent for ABC News.