"Wait for those unguarded moments. Relax the mood and, like the child dropping off to sleep, the subject often reveals his truest self"
About this Quote
Walters is describing an intimacy that’s engineered, not accidental: the TV interview as a controlled environment where “truth” appears only after the defenses have been gently lowered. The key verb is “wait.” It frames revelation as a reward for patience and calibration rather than confrontation. In her world, the hard questions matter, but the bigger prize is the moment after them, when adrenaline drains and a person forgets they’re performing.
The subtext is quietly predatory in the most professional way. “Unguarded” isn’t just a mood; it’s a lapse in self-management. “Relax the mood” reads like kindness, yet it’s also technique: create safety, then listen for the slip. The comparison to “the child dropping off to sleep” sweetens the tactic with tenderness, but it also reveals the power imbalance. Sleep is when control softens; a skilled interviewer knows that fatigue, relief, or warmth can do what pressure cannot. It’s rapport as leverage.
Context matters because Walters helped define celebrity journalism at the point where politics, fame, and confession merged into a prime-time product. Her era prized the “exclusive,” and exclusives depend on access. You don’t keep access by acting like a prosecutor; you keep it by making the subject feel understood right up to the instant they say something they didn’t plan to say. The line captures the Walters method: empathy as an instrument, intimacy with an edge, and a very TV-native belief that the “truest self” is less a stable essence than a momentary crack in the mask.
The subtext is quietly predatory in the most professional way. “Unguarded” isn’t just a mood; it’s a lapse in self-management. “Relax the mood” reads like kindness, yet it’s also technique: create safety, then listen for the slip. The comparison to “the child dropping off to sleep” sweetens the tactic with tenderness, but it also reveals the power imbalance. Sleep is when control softens; a skilled interviewer knows that fatigue, relief, or warmth can do what pressure cannot. It’s rapport as leverage.
Context matters because Walters helped define celebrity journalism at the point where politics, fame, and confession merged into a prime-time product. Her era prized the “exclusive,” and exclusives depend on access. You don’t keep access by acting like a prosecutor; you keep it by making the subject feel understood right up to the instant they say something they didn’t plan to say. The line captures the Walters method: empathy as an instrument, intimacy with an edge, and a very TV-native belief that the “truest self” is less a stable essence than a momentary crack in the mask.
Quote Details
| Topic | Truth |
|---|
More Quotes by Barbara
Add to List
