Despite those harsh words from STAR JONES to Us Weekly Wednesday, BARBARA WALTERS is still opting to go with kindness over any cutting comments in regards to her former "View" partner.

Walters tells AP radio today that Star is "going through a difficult time right now" and she doesn't want to "add to her difficulties." Jones is currently going through a divorce.

Star spoke out to Us Magazine against Barbara's new book, Audition, in which the veteran newswoman claims she lied about Star's gastric bypass surgery to keep it a secret because Star didn't want to talk about it.

"It is a sad day when an icon like Barbara Walters, in the sunset of her life, is reduced to publicly branding herself as an adulterer, humiliating an innocent family with accounts of her illicit affair and speaking negatively against me all for the sake of selling a book," Star told the mag. "It speaks to her true character."