Fans of ABC‘s “The View” will see something in the upcoming season they never thought possible: the return of Rosie O’Donnell.
O’Donnell confirmed that she’d be returning to the show for its upcoming 30th season while appearing on the “Tangle With Kyle Ridley” podcast.
30th Anniversary Special
During that podcast appearance, O’Donnell clarified that she wouldn’t be returning as a full-time co-host, but would be taking part in a 30th-anniversary special marking the three-decade milestone for “The View.”
As she explained, she’s happy to participate “in whatever way they want,” and will be appearing as “just as a guest” during that special episode.
“They’re bringing back all the hosts, I think,” she added. “And, you know, I’m pretty proud of that show, what it’s become and how it really speaks to the people and to politics.”
Scorched-Earth Exits
O’Donnell, who hosted her own successful daytime talk show from 1996 until 2002, was a co-host on “The View” during the 2006-2007 season. That ended badly when O’Donnell famously quit after a bitter on-air argument with fellow co-host Elizabeth Hasselbeck.
She returned in 2014. This time, her tenure on the show lasted just five months before she exited for a second time.
A ‘Tense Time’ with Whoopi Goldberg
As she told the “Tangle” podcast, “when I was there last I had sort of a tense time with Whoopi,” confirming reports she’d clashed with moderator Whoopi Goldberg.
“I admire her EGOT status. I have respect for her,” O’Donnell continued, explaining that she initially expected their on-air rapport to be like “Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan passing the ball back and forth and then shooting and leading the team to victory” during the show’s Hot Topics segment.
“But that’s not exactly what happened,” O’Donnell recalled. “And I think maybe she felt encroached upon in some way, and I was never trying to encroach. I was just doing it the way that I knew how to do it.”
They’ve Healed Their Rift
O’Donnell confirmed that she and Goldberg have long since patched up their differences.
“I didn’t want it to be awkward and go on there and make it awkward, but I’ve seen Whoopi in the years past … and we’ve gotten past it,” she shared. “We’re grown-ass women. She’s a woman who supports women, as am I.”
A Precarious Environment
As Page Six reported, during her conversation on the podcast, O’Donnell shared her belief that “many, many people [had received] the short end of the stick” while serving as co-hosts on “The View.”
“It was a factory where people were being churned in and out and [with] their tenuous security, nobody got to be calm,” she explained.
“It also was a show at the time that was run by a man,” she said of the series, which had been created by legendary TV journalist Barbara Walters and had been run by producer Bill Geddie.
“A show created by a woman, for women, about women, and the man was deciding what we should talk about,” she observed, admitting that dynamic did not “sit right” with her.
