Barbara Walters is joining a long list of celebrities who feel the need to air out their dirty laundry: In her new memoir, Audition, she reveals she had an affair in the 1970s with former Sen. Edward Brooke.

“I think it surprises people because it’s me,” said Walters during an interview Friday in her lustrous corner office at ABC News. “I know people see me as”– she paused, searching for the right word–”a little stern, or a little priggish.

“It WAS 30 years ago,” said the 78-year-old TV legend, “and it was a big part of my life at the time. I thought in the beginning that he was exciting and brilliant, and I didn’t expect it to progress. But when it did, that’s when I got scared and said, ‘You’re a married man, I must break this off.’ And he went home and asked for a divorce.

“I knew it was something that could have destroyed my career. And, since I’m always talking about feeling guilty: I don’t THINK I destroyed his career, but, for whatever reasons, he did not get re-elected.” In his bid for a third term, the Massachusetts Republican was voted out in 1978. “He was a superb senator.”

But why bring this up now?