Barbara Walters is having heart surgery later this week. The View co-host revealed during Monday's show that she'll be undergoing a procedure to replace a faulty heart valve.

The 80-year-old opened the show with the news -- which she'd only told her co-hosts that morning. Joy Behar commented, "You kept it secret very well, Barbara."

Walters replied, "I thought it best not to talk about it too far in advance." She added, "You know how healthy I have been -- never missed a day's work," but said that she has "known of this condition for a while now. Since the summer is coming up, I can take a nice vacation."

Recovery can be anywhere from a month to three months.