Barbara Walters: 2002's Most Fascinating People
Dec. 19, 2002 -- First lady Laura Bush topped Barbara Walters' list of the "The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2002."
Walters cited the first lady's calming presence on the nation in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. She noted that Laura Bush had taken on the role of "Comforter in Chief" with poise and grace.
The first lady told Walters that the most difficult times came in the first few weeks after the attacks. After that, Bush told Walters, the memorials on this past Sept. 11 were particularly painful. Bush said she has since focused her energy on encouraging parents to help comfort their children, and assure them that they are safe at home.
Below are the other nine headliners who made Walters' "most fascinating" list.
Living in the lenses of MTV's cameras, bat-biting heavy metal rocker Ozzy Osbourne, his wife, Sharon, and their two children scored the most successful reality show ever with The Osbournes. We've seen the family cope with Sharon's battle against colon cancer, and we've watched Ozzy urge his kids to steer clear of drugs and alcohol abuse. Admittedly, Ozzy has battled with them his entire life. "For me, straight is unnatural, but I'm straight for a while, then I have to go out and get a drink," he told Walters.
Halle Berry made Hollywood history as the first African American woman to win an Academy Award as Best Actress. Currently portraying a Bond girl in Die Another Day, Berry told Walters, "I always thought being a woman of color was working against me, that people could not see me as an actress and as a woman. I was always a black woman first and somehow that had a negative connotation. That always frustrated me and angered me, and now I feel like I've beat that."
Sarah Hughes captured the hearts of the nation when she won a gold medal in figure skating at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Hughes was decidedly the underdog in the competition, but she beat the odds and won America's heart, along with her Olympic gold. Sarah told Walters, "I used to think, 'What's so special about the Olympics?' and now I know."
Tobey Maguire catapulted to stardom and broke box office records worldwide in Spider Man. He's come a long way from his humble beginnings. He told Walters, "Me and my Mom would go into a grocery store and get groceries and pay for them with food stamps, and I would run out of the store embarrassed."
Dr. Robert Atkins has been fighting the medical establishment for 30 years about his dietary philosophy. This year Atkins was vindicated when studies revealed that he might have been right all along. Fatty foods are not as bad for you as once thought. Atkins explained, "Fat stops you from being hungry…all you have to do is make fat your primary fuel."
Dr. Phil McGraw became a rising star on daytime television with his no-nonsense approach to solving a variety of issues. Dr. Phil told Walters, "I think people are sick to death of being told what they want to hear. You can't mail in what I'm doing. I truly believe that what I'm doing now is what television is supposed to be."
As a Senior Vice President at Enron, the seventh-largest company in America, Sherron Watkins showed great courage and put her future on the line to expose corruption and fraud when no one else would. Sherron said, "There were swindlers in the emperor's new clothes, discussing the fine material that they were weaving."
Maryland's Montgomery County Police Chief, Charles Moose, found himself center-stage in one of the most frightening mass murder cases in American history — the D.C.-area sniper shootings. Upon the capture of the suspects, Moose told Walters, "I think people expected to see more joy, more celebration. But seeing those family members and loved ones that afternoon, just felt like, why didn't we get it done sooner?"
Queen Elizabeth II has endured a particularly bittersweet year. The year marked her golden jubilee as Britain's monarch, but the year also saw the passing of both the queen's mother and her sister, Princess Margaret. Now, at year's end, the queen finds herself once again dealing with another family scandal tied to the late Princess Diana, and the princess's butler, Paul Burrell.