Barbara Walters to have heart surgery

Barbara Walters opened The View on Monday by announcing she will have heart surgery.

"Later this week, I'm going to have surgery to replace one faulty heart valve," Walters said, admitting she had revealed the news to her cohosts only that morning.

"You kept it secret very well, Barbara," Joy Behar said, and Walters replied, "I thought it best not to talk about it too far in advance."

Walters, 80, said that she has known about her faulty valve for a while and asked doctors to schedule surgery in the summer, so she would have time to recover before returning to the show in September.

An echocardiogram showed that her valves were "getting tighter and smaller," she said. It can take one month to three months to recover from the surgery.

Walters has been a part-time host of The View since its inception in 1997 and previously hosted The Today Show and newsmagazine 20/20.

In February, she announced this year's pre-Oscar celebrity interviews would be her last, ending a 29-year tradition.