The View’s 30 Secrets & Scandals

How cloudy is The View? The revolving cast of co-hosts on the live ABC TV morning show has shocked fans since 1997 with their cat fights and controversies, both onscreen and off. Click through RadarOnline.com’s slideshow to see how Rosie O’Donnell, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Barbara Walters, Whoopi Goldberg, and the rest of the ladies have made the talk show a hotbed of intrigue for years.

Return Of The Queen?: As RadarOnline.com has extensively reported, The View has been going through dark times ever since Rosie O’Donnell and Whoopi Goldberg had an epic argument behind the scenes in Nov. 2014. With tempers fraying and ratings tanking, desperate ABC execs are talking about bringing back retired show creator and co-host Barbara Walters, RadarOnline.com has learned. A source said bigwigs might clean house and hire a whole new panel to join Walters, 85, for fall 2015.

Backstage Battle: Rosie O’Donnell and Whoopi Goldberg had a tense skirmish off-camera in Nov. 2014, according to the Daily News. While Goldberg didn’t want to talk about the Bill Cosby rape controversy or the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri on The View, O’Donnell did, sources said. O’Donnell won the battle but Goldberg wasn’t happy; meanwhile, the conflict caused co-host Rosie Perez to burst into tears backstage, the Daily News reported. However, a rep for The View denied the story: “There was no fight.”

Weighty Problem: Star Jones’ nine years on The View were marred by controversy. In 2003, Jones denied having had gastric bypass surgery even though she looked noticeably slimmer. The former attorney said she’d followed a diet and exercise program. But after she left the show in 2006, Jones finally ‘fessed up to having dropped 160 pounds thanks to weight loss surgery. Later, her former co-host Barbara Walters slammed Jones for lying about it to The View’s fans.

When Co-Stars Attack: Liberal firebrand Rosie O’Donnell abruptly left The View in 2007 after an on-camera argument over the Iraq war with her conservative co-star, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, got way too personal. O’Donnell sneered that she would face flak for attacking “innocent pure Christian Elisabeth.” The feud has lived on--Hasselbeck, who’s now with Fox News, recently decried Rosie’s return to The View.

Racism Rumble: Rosie O’Donnell and Whoopi Goldberg got into an epic TV shouting match in Dec. 2014 regarding racism. “Listen, you are a white lady telling me what is racist to you, which is fine,” Goldberg pointedly told O’Donnell on camera. “I’m a gay American that has been called a dyke,” O’Donnell retorted. “It’s not the same,” said Goldberg. O’Donnell pointed out she had an adopted black child but Goldberg insisted that she still couldn’t know what racism is. Off-camera during a commercial break, O’Donnell heard producers suggesting using a split screen to create more drama, and went ballistic, threatening to quit the show, a source told RadarOnline.com. The split screen idea was abandoned. 

No Joy: Former co-hosts Joy Behar and Star Jones feuded often on The View. On March 27, 2006, Jones phoned in to the show to discuss her recent operation. Behar cut her off, saying, “OK, Star. That's enough about you. On to us. Bye. Keep your tits perky!” Jones replied, "Even today, you are still a b*tch.”

Liberal Vs. Conservative: On the latest The View incarnation, Rosie O’Donnell and Nicolle Wallace got into a televised spat over Wallace’s opinion that President Barack Obama “doesn’t love people.” The argument got so heated off-camera, the New York Post reported, that a producer had “to call them both in and order them to calm down.” Show reps have denied any backstage conflict.

Not So Rosie?: New 2014 co-host Rosie Perez was having a hard time measuring up at the morning show, according to the Daily Mail’s sources.“She’s constantly correcting herself because she’s constantly screwing something up,” a source said. “She’s not the sharpest tool in the shed.” The View rep denied the story.

Short Stay: Jenny McCarthy only lasted one season on the talk show from 2013-14. RadarOnline.com readers got the earliest head’s up her job was in jeopardy when we exclusively reported that ABC research had discovered the blonde beauty alienated viewers with her big mouth. 

TMI!: Towards the end of her long The View run, the show’s beloved veteran creator and star Barbara Walters faced criticism for appearing addled and strange on air. Among other things, Walters defended Woody Allen’s parenting -- and proclaimed that she owned a vibrator!

Crackling Rosie: Rosie O’Donnell, who co-hosted The View from 2006-07, made a comeback on the ABC talk fest in September 2014 but was quickly fuming behind the scenes, as RadarOnline.com reported. According to a source, O’Donnell was ready to walk when Rosie Perez and Nicolle Wallace were announced as her newbie View co-stars. “It became clear it wouldn’t be Rosie O’Donnell’s show,” said the source. “She feels like ABC shoved the new panel down her throat.” But so far, the star has stayed put.

One Big Ad: Star Jones caused a scandal on The View by constantly giving plugs to her own wedding vendors on the show; later it was revealed she had exchanged her thinly-veiled product placements for free goodies. (Jones married investment banker Al Reynolds in 2004; they divorced in 2008). ABC said her actions violated a network policy which prohibited on-air mentions in exchange for products.

Playing Footsie: When Rosie O’Donnell returned to The View in 2014, RadarOnline.com learned she horrified her ABC bosses by going shoeless on air! During the September 15 premiere, the hostess went barefoot because of her sciatica. A source told RadarOnline.com that bugged her producers: “She had her feet up and lifted her foot up near her mouth to show the camera. It’s not what they wanted on first day of the new show.”

Scrambled Sherri: For seven seasons, amiable Sherri Shepherd had fun with her The View co-hosts—but she became notorious for her live flubs. In the most egregious goof, in 2007, Shepherd said that she didn't know if the earth was round or flat! Sheepish Shepherd later recalled, “When the show was over, Barbara Walters came over and said, ‘Dear, the Earth is round,’ and I said, ‘Barbara, I know that!’’

New View On Barbara: Rosie O’Donnell once praised former The View co-star, news legend Barbara Walters. But later, she whined about doing the talk show with Walters to Howard Stern, “I assumed that because she was the first woman to break all these barriers that she was very supportive of other women….I got on that show only to realize, oh, my God, that`s not the case.”

Reality Bites: Sources reported that Rosie O’Donnell’s 2014 deal for her second The View go round mandated that no reality stars would be chosen as her co-hosts. Apparently O’Donnell, whose former show enemy Elisabeth Hasselbeck first shot to fame on Survivor, didn’t want any reality stars sharing the roundtable with her. Sorry, housewives!

Memba Her? Debbie Matenopoulos, one of the original The View cast members, was fired in 1999 after just two seasons -- during which Saturday Night Live had parodied her as a TV airhead. At the time, a source told Page Six that Matenopoulos “barely ever goes over any of the research materials provided to her, is usually late, and spends most of her time deciding which premieres and parties she feels like attending that week.” Still, Matenopoulos has returned to guest on the show, most notably to give Barbara Walters her retirement sendoff.

Ripped by Ripa: Rosie O’Donnell’s The View feuds never end, and in 2006, the comedienne tangled with Live! Hostess Kelly Ripa on-air. Ripa had scolded her Live! guest Clay Aiken (who is openly gay) for putting his hand over her mouth, saying she didn’t know where his hand had been. O’Donnell charged Ripa with homophobia, but Ripa phoned her on The View, saying, “It’s cold and flu season. You’re out of line!” In 2012, O’Donnell tweeted that Ripa still held a grudge.

Swift Exit: Star Jones shocked her co-stars by preemptively announcing on The View in 2006 that she would be leaving. She told People magazine that she’d actually been fired from the show but had been told to finish the season and keep her mouth shut until then. Producer Barbara Walters said Jones’ announcement had “blindsided” her and that the former legal eagle would no longer appear on the show. Jones was furious when Walters’ memoir later dissed her even more.

Rosie’s World: The View got drastically revamped for its 2014 season, and sources have said that returning Rosie O’Donnell caused big problems. According to online reports, insiders on the show call O’Donnell a “malcontent” with a bad attitude to both her fellow panelists and crew members, usually not speaking with anyone when the cameras are off. The star was reportedly disappointed that co-star Whoopi Goldberg has remained the leader of the show.

Loose Talk: The View was hit broadside in 2013 by the co-host of a competing talk show. The Talk’s Sharon Osbourne bashed The View stars, saying on The Arsenio Hall Show that she “idolized” Barbara Walters but the rest of the ladies could “go f*ck themselves.” Osbourne later apologized, claiming she was just “trying to be funny…. I'm really just a loose cannon.”

Squeaky Wheel?: As RadarOnline.com has reported, veteran stage and screen star Rosie Perez, who debuted in 2014, has been blasted behind the scenes for her voice, sources said. After The View ratings slid downhill, Rosie O’Donnell and Whoopi Goldberg blamed Perez, a source claimed: “They say it’s because of her signature voice.” According to the source, O’Donnell and Goldberg have told Perez not to laugh so much and “she’s hurt by the comments.” Sources said Perez actually tested well with the audience.

Rosie The Riveter: A source told the New York Daily News Confidential in 2014 that Rosie O’Donnell micromanages The View. She has dictated who she would or wouldn’t let appear as a guest, the source said, and “would be in a room with 40 people — production people — and just say, ‘I’m not talking to these people.’”

Right Goes Wrong?: Elisabeth Hasselbeck propounded her conservative right wing views for ten years on the talk show. But finally, The View producers reportedly decided not to renew her contract in 2013 because, a source told Us Weekly, “The viewers they polled all said she was too extreme. People did not watch the show because of Elisabeth.” However, after a teary on-air goodbye, Hasselbeck quickly rebounded with her new gig on Fox & Friends.

Help Wanted: According to a report in Star, Rosie Perez was having trouble with her support staff at The View. A source told the magazine that Perez had gone through four makeup artists and had replaced an assistant. 

Shake Up: Conservative Elisabeth Hasselbeck and liberal Joy Behar squared off on The View for years but they were both pushed out after the 2013 season, Barbara Walters admitted. “These are not Barbara and Bill’s decisions,” Walters told Variety, referring to herself and executive producer Bill Geddie. “The network is also involved. I think the feeling was if one went, both had to leave. We needed to shake things up.”

Baba Wawa Wejected?: Barbara Walters retired from hosting The View in spring 2014, but wanted to make a special live cameo on the fall 2014 premiere in which Rosie O’Donnell returned, a source said. However, the New York Post source said network execs passed on the idea because it might overshadow the newcomers. Instead, Walters appeared in a pre-recorded bit giving her blessing to the hosts. But Walters insisted to the Post she never wished to be on the live edition of the first episode – she was happy being on tape.

Secret Ageism?: In Sept. 2014, The View was hit with a $1 million lawsuit for allegedly replacing a female producer for being too old. As RadarOnline.com has reported, Bernadette Piccolomini, 63, claimed in court papers that she was the victim of age discrimination at the hands of a younger and more inexperienced new boss. ABC had no comment at the time, and the outcome hasn’t been decided.

Former Co-Host’s A Critic: Meredith Vieira was one of The View’s original stars, planted at the show’s table from 1997 to 2006. But later that year, Vieira candidly told Time magazine it was “very sad” what had happened to it: “I'm proud of the work we did there, but it's not a good time in the history of the show... It's hard to watch. It sort of became a joke.” Later, Vieira backpedaled, telling the New York Post that the interview was taken out of context and she did NOT consider The View a joke.

Fighting For The Best View: In just one of Rosie O’Donnell and Whoopi Goldberg’s fierce fights behind the scenes, RadarOnline.com learned that the veteran hosts battled for The View set’s best office. A source said both ladies wanted former ABC talk show hostess Katie Couric’s old digs. “In Rosie’s contract, she specified that she gets the best office. Whoopi doesn’t have that in contract,” the source explained to RadarOnline.com. “Whoopi has been making such a stink.” The source said O’Donnell gave up the office to Goldberg to keep the peace, but it hasn’t been the last of their feud.