The Hardest Chapter to Write

Of all the chapters in this book, this is the hardest for me to write. I think it should be a chapter of its own because if my sister, Jackie, was the centerpiece of my youth, my daughter, Jackie, is the centerpiece of my adult life. There is another, perhaps more important reason.

I love my daughter more than I love anyone in the world, always have, but when she reached adolescence our life together became extremely difficult. I would probably not have written about this at all, but Jackie feels that it is very important for people to understand what she and I went through because, she hopes, it may help others. Her thought is that if we could make it, and we did, it may give hope to other parents who are struggling with their own adolescents' hard-to understand emotions and rebellion. It may also help working mothers feel less guilty, because when your child is in trouble, the first thing you do is blame yourself. A troubled child can be from any family, but I think working mothers, like myself, feel the pressure even more keenly. And so I am sharing our most painful years—which, in truth, I would rather not remember.

Copyright © 2008 by Barbara Walters. All rights reserved.