Rona Barrett

Photoplay and a Column in 125 Papers

Barrett went to California in 1958. In late 1958 Evelyn Payne, the new editor of Photoplay, bought her idea for a column about "Young Hollywood" and sent her to Los Angeles. Her beat was the generation of actors and singers who moved between film, television and records, a crowd the older columnists were not covering. In 1959 she swapped the monthly magazine work for a daily newspaper column, which was soon carried in 125 papers across the country.

Editors cut the material she most wanted to print, such as marijuana at Hollywood parties, so she wrote in hints that readers learned to decode. She drew a line at outing gay actors. Of Rock Hudson she told BuzzFeed: "if he wanted to come out and say it, it was up to him to say."

A Minute of Gossip on KABC

Five years after she arrived in Hollywood her column ran in 142 cities, but the networks kept turning down her pitch for a talk show. She told Closer Weekly in 2020 that she finally wrote to the president of ABC asking for a yes or a no, and was woken at 6 a.m. by a call from Elton Rule of KABC, the network's Los Angeles station. The station gave her a short gossip segment at the end of the evening news, on the condition that she lose her accent.

The segment grew from one minute to two and a half and was picked up by ABC stations in the five largest markets. KABC's newscast more than doubled its ratings, moving from third place to a tie for first with CBS. By 1969 about 40 percent of the country could watch her five days a week. She treated studio business as news: her reports on Darryl Zanuck's plans to push his son out of 20th Century Fox led Zanuck to threaten to have ABC fire her.

"I got into television because I knew it was a new age and that it was the medium where people were going to go for their information," she said in her 2013 interview for the Television Academy Foundation.

Metromedia, Three Magazines and Miss Rona

Elmer Lower, the head of ABC News, opposed putting a Hollywood columnist on the national news, so Barrett moved to Metromedia, a group of stations in major markets. In 1969 she was approached to put her name on her own magazines. Titles that came out of the deal included Rona Barrett's Hollywood and Rona Barrett's Gossip, and BuzzFeed reported that Metromedia's syndication numbers rose 56 percent.

In 1974 she published Miss Rona, a memoir about her childhood, the fan magazines, the antisemitism and sexism she met, and her marriage at 37 to the producer Bill Trowbridge. It sold more than half a million copies. The same year she left Metromedia, telling the Chicago Tribune that a man in her job would earn from television alone what she earned from television, magazines, books and lectures together.

Good Morning America and the Tomorrow Show Feud

In 1975 Barrett joined the original Good Morning America team on ABC with David Hartman and Nancy Dussault, as the program's arts and entertainment editor. She reported weekend box office grosses on morning television over objections from an executive who did not think viewers cared. She also hosted hour-long interview specials, including a 1974 conversation with Cher in which the two sat on a bed.

NBC hired her in 1980 to co-host Tomorrow with Tom Snyder, and she also worked on Today during her years at the network. Snyder refused to treat her as more than a contributor, and the two feuded on and off the air. In the 1980s she was a senior correspondent for Entertainment Tonight, among other short-lived jobs. "The day I left Hollywood, I canceled all my subscriptions: Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Ad Age, everything to do with the entertainment industry," she told BuzzFeed.

The Move to the Santa Ynez Valley

Barrett settled in the Santa Ynez Valley, about 30 minutes from Santa Barbara, where she raised horses and grew and sold lavender products with the proceeds going to charity. After her mother died her father came to live with her, and caring for him started her thinking about older people with no one to look after them. "So in 2000, I started the Rona Barrett Foundation," she told Closer Weekly. The foundation first paid for shelter, clothing and food for seniors in need, then moved into building housing.

Trowbridge, a former broadcaster from Huntington, West Virginia, died before her second marriage. On Valentine's Day 2008 she married Daniel Busby, a writer of political thrillers who had been her first boyfriend in Hollywood. In the Closer interview she counted two marriages in her life.

Golden Inn and Village and Harry's House

The foundation's main project is a campus in Santa Ynez for low-income seniors. In 2016 Barrett was raising $4.2 million for the Golden Inn and Village, then under construction. Harry's House, named after her father, opened as a 60-unit residence and was fully occupied by its grand opening. In June 2025 the foundation marked its 25th anniversary with an open house at the campus, and the Santa Maria Times reported that Barrett had spent more than 23 years raising money for it.

"Despite my successful career in Hollywood, being an advocate for seniors-in-need is the most important work that I've ever done," Barrett said at the anniversary, according to the Santa Maria Times.

What Miss Rona Earned in 1974

No tier-one financial outlet publishes a net worth estimate for Barrett, and the figures that circulate online come from aggregator sites that show no method, so this article does not give one. The one sourced figure for her income is from her peak: BuzzFeed News reported that by 1974 she earned about $300,000 a year across her television work, magazines and books, more than $1.4 million in 2016 dollars. Her later wealth depended on property and her own businesses in the Santa Ynez Valley, none of which have disclosed figures.

Sources

• How Rona Barrett Became The Gossip Industry's Forgotten Trailblazer
• Rona Barrett Interview: Pioneering Entertainment Journalist Found Success Despite Numerous Obstacles - Smashing Interviews Magazine
• Rona Barrett | Television Academy Interviews
• CLOSER WEEKLY: Gossip Queen Rona Barrett Dishes on Her Favorite Stars, Famous Feuds and More! - Rona Barrett Foundation
• Rona Barrett Foundation marks 25 years of serving seniors with celebration in Santa Ynez | Local News | santamariatimes.com