Barbara Walters will confirm reports of her retirement when she is good and ready.
The ABC News veteran and co-creator and host of The View said Monday on the chatfest: "There were many reports last week saying that I was retiring from ABC, and there was an assumption that I would be making an announcement today. ... Here I am, and I have no announcement to make."
[Cue generous audience applause.]
She continued: "But I do want to say this: that if and when I might have an announcement to make, I will do it in this program, I promise, and the paparazzi guys, you will be the last to know."
Last Thursday, sources told The Hollywood Reporter that Walters, 83, is poised to retire in May 2014 and that she was expected to officially announce the news herself in the coming weeks.
She plans to remain on The View through next season, the show's 17th, as it transitions from the departures of co-hosts Joy Behar and Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
