Continuing the promotion of her new book, Audition: A Memoir, Barbara Walters made an appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” on May 14. Not surprisingly, Barbara Walters’ revelations of affairs with former Senator Edward Brooke, as well as Alan Greenspan, Alan Greenberg, Senator John Warner - along with the highly public feud with former View cohost, Star Jones — have boosted book sales beyond the quarter million mark in just a few days.

New York Post Page Six declares a backlash:

THE backlash has begun against Barbara Walters for admitting in her autobiography, “Audition,” to an adulterous affair 30 years ago with Edward Brooke, the then-married Massachusetts senator, while she was simultaneously seeing Alan “Ace“ Greenberg, who became chairman of Bear Stearns.

“Barbara Walters is a shameless media whore,” says Marc Dice, spokesman for conservative media watchdog group The Resistance. “Barbara has now sunk to the very level of other attention-starved celebrities such as Paris Hilton or even Steve-O from ‘Jackass.’ ”

Walters’ spokeswoman, Cindi Berger, told Page Six: “This conservative watchdog seems to have lived a sheltered life in his doghouse.”

Source: New York Post - Barbara Starts to Feel Heat

See also:

• Video: Barbara Walters on Oprah 5/6/08 (Full Interview)
• Barbara Walters’ Previously Secret Affair with Senator Edward Brooke No Longer Secret
• Celebitchy: Barbara Walters cheated on the men she bedded, incl. Alan Greenspan

Via: Popcrunch - Barbara Walters “Ellen” Video

Video: Barbara Walters on “Ellen DeGeneres Show” 5-14-08

William Shatner made an appearance on May 12, 2008 on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” discussing his book, Up Till Now: The Autobiographywhich was released today, May 13 and surveys Shatner’s lengthy film, theater and television career. The early days of his career saw Shatner in movies such as “Judgment at Nuremberg” and television series such as “The Twilight Zone” in the years before the “Star Trek” — and now “Boston Legal” — roles for which he is most known.

In a recent interview, William Shatner discussed how and why he wrote the book.

“I wrote it because I had the opportunity to,” he says, speaking in his deliberate way by phone after a day on the set of “Boston Legal.” “And I chose to do it because I felt it was a way of explaining to my children and grandchildren who I was … in some minuscule form, like a book.

“So the last while I’ve been trying to do things that may explain who this creature was that they were looking at, and what was going on inside.”

In a way, he explains, one of the most recognizable faces in show business needed to write a book to help his own family recognize who he was and what his life had meant for all those years he’d spent in the spotlight. It was an experience, that Shatner says showed him things about himself he’d never before recognized.

Shatner told his stories into a recorder and sent them to co-author David Fisher, who worked them into rough drafts of chapters, which mapped the actor’s life in ways he’d never considered it before, he says.

“I saw my life laid out in a pattern, laid out in a sequential way that I’d never thought of it before, and then I went through the process of puzzling out what was the meaning of all this, where were the repetitions, the habits – why did I do the things that I did?

“And it was alarming! First of all, the time, the interval between the first story and the last story in my head is about seven weeks,” Shatner says. “But it turns out to be considerably longer than that. And it all happened so quickly and I had no idea that it was happening.”

William Shatner and Julie Harris in the Broadway play “A Shot In The Dark” in 1962

Seeing the passage of time in his life’s story, Shatner says, encouraged him not just to complete the book, but also to consider everything else that he wanted to accomplish in his life.

“It reinforces a feeling of anxiety of getting thing done, of doing the things you meant to do, or you have in mind to do,” he says. “There’s an urgency involved that wasn’t there before.”

And so he talked and talked, and Fisher sculpted the stories into chapters and a book that is filled with stories.

Many are funny – his encounter with Koko the famous gorilla, who decided to grab him by a most sensitive part of the anatomy, helps open the book.

William Shatner with Leonard Nimoy

Others poignant – after “Star Trek” ended, freshly divorced and completely broke, he was practically homeless, working in summer stock around the country, sleeping behind the theaters in his pickup truck to save money.

Source: William Shatner shares O.C. memories in new book

See also:

• In bed with Captain Kirk … William Shatner tells of his 40-year Star Trek
• William Shatner: ‘Mr Spock hated me’

Via - William Shatner Conan Video: William Shatner “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” Video

That’s the news and video: William Shatner on Conan O’Brien 5-12-08

Last week, Barbara Walters’ new book, Audition: A Memoir, and news of her revelation of the previously secret 1970s affair with former Senator Edward Brooke, the first black U.S. senator since the Reconstruction Era, predictably drew much attention. No doubt her interview on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” will draw even more interest as she discusses her colorful public and private persona.

Barbara Walters 1970s

Senator Edward W. Brooke in 1973 - Photo Credit: Jim Cole

Barbara Walters shared other personal revelations in her interview.

Walters told Winfrey that she knew about [Star] Jones’ gastric bypass surgery long before “The View” co-host admitted it to the public, but she and the rest of “The View” women lied to keep it a secret because Jones didn’t want to talk about it.

“She decided to have a gastric bypass operation, but then she decided not to tell anybody,” Walters said on Tuesday’s “Oprah.” “Then we had to lie on the set every day because she said it was portion control and Pilates. Well, we knew it wasn’t portion control and Pilates.”

On June 27, 2006, Jones told People magazine she would be leaving Walters’ talk show because her contract wasn’t renewed, saying, “I feel like I was fired.” The next day, Walters said she was blindsided by Jones’ announcement and effective immediately, Jones would no longer appear on “The View.”

Walters also dished about former “View” moderator Rosie O’Donnell’s infamous shouting match with Elisabeth Hasselbeck in May 2007. The two got into a heated on-air debate about the Iraq War that prompted O’Donnell’s premature departure from the show.

Walters said she was at home during the on-air spat, “saying, ‘Go to commercial, Go to commercial!’” But Walters said that she didn’t regret having O’Donnell on the show and still respects her tremendously.

The veteran newswoman opened up about her 1970s affair with married U.S. Sen. Edward Brooke, the first African-American to be popularly elected to the Senate. During the years of their affair, Walters was a co-host of NBC’s “Today” show. The couple agreed to keep their relationship a secret for fear that public knowledge of it would ruin their careers. Their tryst ended before Brooke lost his bid for a third term in 1978.

Source: Barbara Walters Spills About Star Jones, Rosie O’Donnell

See also previous story:

• Barbara Walters’ Previously Secret Affair with Senator Edward Brooke No Longer Secret

Video via Popcrunch - Barbara Walters “Oprah” Video

Barbara Walters on The Oprah Winfrey Show, broadcast on May 6, 2008.