Although Barbara Walters is said to be a close family friend to the Hilton clan, she has publicly said she turned down the first post-jail Paris Hilton interview because her story is just not important enough. Barbara told the NY Post’s Cindy Adams that she was going to to the interview but her conscience wouldn’t let her.

“Look, I’ve done prison interviews before, but people like the Menendez Brothers were really important news stories,” said the creator and cohost of The View. “This wasn’t. And even though I’d already written my questions, when all that pay-for-play stuff happened, I suddenly felt this was not up to my standard. It…felt…sort of …tawdry. The whole thing somehow was beneath me,” she added.

Barbara said it was never her that wanted the interview in the first place, she says ABC just wanted the ratings.

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