Rosie O'Donnell reveals why she won't return to The View

It rhymes with Bhoopi Boldberg.
April 8, 2020 11:47 a.m. EST
April 12, 2020 12:00 a.m. EST
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If you’re holding your breath waiting for former host Rosie O’Donnell to make her highly anticipated return to The View, it’s time exhale. At least that’s the case while host Whoopi Goldberg continues to work on the hugely popular series. Appearing on The Howard Stern Show this week, O’Donnell confirmed that she won’t be back on The View while Goldberg is host.O’Donnell was the moderator on The View from 2006 to 2007 and returned for a short five-month stint in 2014. During O’Donnell’s absence, comedian and actor Whoopi Goldberg had taken over the role of moderator on the daytime talk show. Speaking to Stern, O’Donnell said her second time on the show was fraught with emotion and confirmed that she would not return. “I think we all agreed that the last time it was better for everyone,” said O’Donnell. “Whoopi really didn’t like me.”The comedian and actor said that she had spoken to Goldberg before accepting the position in 2014 and had received Goldberg’s blessing. “We were friends in the celebrity vernacular for a long time. When I went to do the show, I went to her house and talked to her. We had a great, sort of, come to Jesus. I said, listen, I only want to do this if you want me to do this with you. I was thinking we were going to be like Scotty Pippen and Michael Jordan.”Continuing, O’Donnell said that she initially believed her return to the show would make her part of a team. “I was assuming I was coming in to be a part of an ensemble, right? Throw the ball back and forth, everybody shoot, everybody take a shot, right? But from day one she was just upset with…I threw to commercial because I didn’t know that she saw the countdown,” said O’Donnell, referring to Goldberg.  “Now, listen, she has been there forever. Maybe that is normal…I saw that and there was a pause then I said, ‘We will be right back after this’ and that was on the first day and there was trouble from then on.”According to O’Donnell, the relationship continued to deteriorate until she eventually left The View after only a few months. “She was mean to me on live TV. When people ask what happened I say go back and watch it. It’s not like, a mystery. Watch the way it went down. I don’t need to say anything,” said O’Donnell. “Did it hurt my feelings? Tremendously. It was so trippy to me. But I knew I had to leave. So, I was like, ‘I have to get out of here, I can’t do this. I am not fighting with Whoopi Goldberg.’ I have no desire to fight with her.”
O’Donnell’s revelations about her time working with Goldberg arrive on the heels of the release of Ramin Setoodeh’s book Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of The View. O’Donnell told Setoodeh that working with Goldeberg was “Worse than Fox News. The worst experience I’ve ever had on live television was interacting with her.” For O’Donnell, that’s as bad as it gets.Goldberg likely won’t be a getting an invite to O’Donnell’s daily Zoom parties while in quarantine. The SMILF star told Stern that she’s hosting daily virtual parties with some of her famous friends, including Madonna, Meg Ryan, Helen Hunt, Jason Alexander, Matthew Perry, and Sean Hayes. O’Donnell said it gives the friends a chance to catch up and commiserate over the state of things. And no, they don’t talk about Trump. This is a place of healing and support.
[video_embed id='1935645']Before you go: Bruce and Demi's quarantine PJ party[/video_embed]

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