Barbara Walters, announced on ”The View” today that she will be taking time off starting “later this week” for surgery to replace a heart valve.

Walters chose not to talk about the surgery too far in advance, telling her co-hosts on “The View” the news Monday morning shortly before she told the viewers.

The recovery process is expected to take one to three months. Although Walters has known about the problem for some time she has decided that now would be a great time to take care of it since “The View” is on a break in July and hiatus in August.

She plans to come “roaring back” in September.

Click here to watch video of Walters’ announcement and the discussion that followed.