Barbara Walters on Lindsay Lohan's Canceled '20/20' Interview: I Was Owed a 'More Honest Explanation' (Video)

Barbara Walters says she is "disappointed" that Lindsay Lohan pulled out of a much-hyped interview that was to air Friday on ABC's 20/20.

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The View co-host addressed the situation on her ABC talker Monday morning after news broke that Lohan had granted an interview to The Tonight Show's Jay Leno.

STORY: A Plea on Behalf of Brainy Girls: Give Lindsay Lohan a Chance

When co-host Whoopi Goldberg told Walters that she was a "very different kind of interviewer" than Leno -- implying that he would not ask any tough questions -- Walters replied: “I couldn’t agree more. ... If they’d said to me, ‘You know, Barbara, she isn't up to the kind of questions you might ask’ -- though most of them were comparing her to Elizabeth Taylor: both child stars, both aggressive mothers, etc., then it would have been a wonderful interview. She could have set the record straight. If they had told me that, I wouldn’t feel quite as disappointed as I do today.”

Walters said she had done a great deal of preparation for the interview, including watching Lohan's upcoming Lifetime movie Liz & Dick, in which the actress plays Taylor opposite Grant Bowler as Richard Burton. Walters also showed some of the footage that had already been shot when she interviewed Lohan on the set of Liz & Dick in June.

But on Friday, Lohan's new publicist called Walters up to say that the actress "doesn't feel up to it."

However, that excuse didn't sit well with Walters, who said: “I think I could have had a more honest explanation."

In the clips shown by Walters, she is seen asking Lohan about her health during the filming of the telefilm.

"One night you had a little trouble getting up and they called the paramedics," she asked Lohan. "Was that just exhaustion?”

Replied Lohan: “I think I was just honestly tired. I needed a nap for 15 minutes and then there were seven paramedics in a room, so imagine how I felt."

STORY: Lindsay Lohan Cancels '20/20' Interview; ABC 'Disappointed'

Meanwhile, Walters still ended her story Monday on a positive note.

“I wish Lindsay the best," she said. "We would have done a wonderful interview. I hope she feels well.”

Lohan's interview with Leno is set to air Nov. 20, five days before Liz & Dick's debut.

Incidentally, Walters' take on the Lohan situation trumped coverage of disgraced former CIA director David Petraeus' scandal on Monday's The View.