Rona Barrett Foundation

BY STEVEN LIBOWITZ

Rona Barrett is most famous for her long career as a pioneering journalist, columnist, broadcaster, and producer who covered the entertainment industry for decades. The trailblazer interviewed a huge swath of superstars, including Raquel Welch and Tom Cruise, broke countless stories from the world of Hollywood, and became the public’s trusted insider – documenting the careers and lives of stars of stage, screen, music, and TV. 

But Barrett herself happily shares that the work she’s doing now for seniors in the Santa Ynez Valley and beyond is the most important thing she’s ever done. That’s because after she left Hollywood for Santa Ynez and cared for her father in his final years, she realized that not all seniors have the means to live out their days in comfort. With the “Baby Boomer” generation continuing to age and live longer, often without much of a financial safety net, there weren’t going to be enough resources available to support this senior population.