Elisabeth Hasselbeck Nearly Quit ‘The View’ After Fight With Barbara Walters About The Morning-After Pill
Elisabeth Hasselbeck tried to quit The View seven years earlier than her eventual 2013 departure from the ABC chatfest. The former View co-host, who was a panelist on the show for 10 years, reportedly got into it with Barbara Walters during a Hot Topics discussion in 2006, Page Six reports. The volatile incident is detailed in Ramin Setoodeh’s buzzy new book Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of The View.
According to the book, which is comprised of interviews and leaked audio recordings of past and present View hosts, conservative Elisabeth Hasselbeck got into a heated exchange with Barbara Walters over the “morning-after pill.”
During the segment, Hasselbeck said, “I believe that life begins at the moment of conception,” but Walters promptly cut her off. During a commercial break, Hasselbeck was recorded complaining about Walters to co-star Joy Behar after storming off the stage.
“What the f ** k! I don’t even swear. She has me swearing. This woman is driving me nuts. I’m not going back. I can’t do the show like this. She just reprimanded me, and she knew exactly what she was doing. Goodbye! I’m off. Read about that in the New York f *** king Post!”
Hasselbeck was also heard telling former View executive producer Bill Geddie that she was quitting the show.
“I don’t need to be reprimanded on the air like that by this woman. I will take it in the meeting. I will not take that on the air. I’m leaving.”
With just minutes to go, Hasselbeck went back on air and ended up staying on at The View until 2013, but she declined to participate in a 2016 reunion with Walters.
Leaked audio reveals alleged blowup over Barbara, as Elisabeth also spills on “betrayal” over firing (via @toofab)https://t.co/woVVoNEvTL
— TMZ (@TMZ) March 26, 2019
After her departure from The View, Hasselbeck told talk show host Rachael Ray there was no love lost between her and the ABC talk show.
“I did my time, I was outta there,” Hasselbeck told Ray of The View, per The Wrap.
The details regarding Hasselbeck’s 2013 departure from The View were never fully explained, and in a later interview with Parade, Hasselbeck vowed to keep the story to herself.
“We say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. I choose not to discuss any of that because I like to honor the confidence and trust that I’ve been offered,” Hasselbeck said.
But Elisabeth Hasselbeck does give her side of the story in her new book, Point of View, in which she details the “betrayal” she felt when her contract for The View wasn’t renewed.
The new story about Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s fight with Barbara Walters comes one day after former View co-host Rosie O’Donnell was quoted in Setoodeh’s book as saying she had a crush on Hasselbeck when they worked together in 2006. O’Donnell also alleged that the athletic mom of three could be “a little bit gay.” Hasselbeck denounced O’ Donnell’s comments and said she is praying for her.
In addition to Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s dustup with Barbara Walters, ex co-host Jenny McCarthy has also gone on record as saying she was “miserable” working with Walters on The View, and she compared the news icon to Mommie Dearest.
