Who was so stressed during her stint as co-host of The View
that she found herself crying before every show? And they weren't alone!
Keep watching to learn why the show's Republican co-host seat is cursed.
Debbie Matenopoulos was a 22-year-old MTV production assistant when she joined The View,
but she was cut from the cast after two seasons.
Chatting with Joy Behar on the Behind the Table podcast,
the former E! correspondent remembered being plucked from obscurity for the job, telling Behar:
"Let's be honest. I was a kid. [...] I wasn't prepared to sit down next to
the most world-renowned journalist. [...] Not to mention the other stuff that came on top of it."
"If you ask the girls, they're going to tell you I'm the baby of the group."
In speaking about Matenopoulos in Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of The View,
former executive producer Bill Geddie had this to say:
"The audience just didn't like Debbie. The older people were okay with her.
They thought she was an idiot, but it was funny. Younger people didn't see themselves
in Debbie. They thought by picking someone like that, we were talking down to them."
Matenopoulos has put the past behind her. She currently works as a cookbook author
and entertainment journalist and has recently returned to guest co-host on The View.
After only a few seasons on The View, Elisabeth Hasselbeck had a contentious clash
with Barbara Walters about FDA approval of the morning-after pill being offered over the counter.
When Walters told her to calm down so she could continue to the next topic,
the conservative co-host walked off the set and was recorded on a hot mic
going off in an expletive-filled rant to co-host Joy Behar, saying,
"I'm not going to sit there and get reprimanded on the air.
This woman is driving me nuts. I'm not going back."
After the commercial break, the hosts made up, and Hasselbeck stuck around until 2013.
When she was told the show would not be renewing her contract,
the former Fox & Friends co-host wrote in Point of View: A Fresh Look at Work,
Faith, and Freedom that it felt like a punch in the gut. Hasselbeck recounted:
"I could not breathe — literally, could not breathe. I was bent over — shock,
asthma and betrayal all stealing my wind."
The reason Hasslebeck was given for her firing was that the show would be moving in a less
politically-focused direction in the future.
For Candace Cameron Bure, the transition from Hallmark Channel's Christmas movie queen
to co-host on The View was mentally and emotionally draining. Bure told USA Today,
"[I] was just trying to understand and have a general grasp of topics that I didn't want to
talk about or didn't care about. [...] There was only one type of stress that I've ever
felt in my life that came from that show. And I [have] PTSD, like, I can feel it."
On the Behind the Table podcast, Bure said the show's producers may have been less than truthful:
"I didn't grow up speaking about politics. So they had
told me [...] 'We want to talk more about family and sex and life, so I was, like,
absolutely, 100 percent, I'm on board. And then it all changed when Trump entered the race."
Day after day, going to work began taking its toll on her well-being. Bure said:
"So many mornings, I would just be crying before the show."
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line
by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness
helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.
Former Fox & Friends host Abby Huntsman was a co-host on The View for two seasons.
Huntsman had a difficult tenure on the show, however, telling the Behind the Table podcast:
"I did feel trapped sometimes, because I felt like just to be me wasn't what the executives
at the time always wanted. Everything was about a soundbite and everything was,
'Who could say the most bombastic thing in the moment?' And that's not me."
Huntsman, who is conservative, recalled that initially the show's producers told
her she wouldn't be expected to speak for any political party, but it soon became
clear that the producers wanted to fit her into a box. On her I Wish Somebody Told Me podcast,
the former MSNBC host said The View has a culture that rewards bad behavior.
Huntsman also added that every time she tried to start a dialogue with management about the
environment on the show, her concerns were swept under the rug. Huntsman said on her podcast:
"It was about money and it was about ratings and the tabloids.
And in order to keep that show hot, you had to just let it all continue on."
Nicolle Wallace's sudden departure from The View may just be the least acrimonious
of all, but it still stung. The MSNBC anchor said in The Los Angeles Times,
"Being fired from a TV show where you think you're kind of baring your soul
feels personal because it is. It's like being broken up with."
After her one season on the show, the former communications chief for President George W.
Bush said she found out about her firing by reading it in the press. Wallace told Variety,
"I had never had one note from anybody inside the entire organization during
the entire season. No one said a word to me. It was like being invisible."
But Wallace says she harbors no resentment. She loved working with her co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg,
Rosie Perez, and Rosie O'Donnell. On her last day she said to them,
"I have loved sitting in this chair, and it was never mine,
but I'm lucky I got to occupy it for a little bit."
Reflecting on her four-season run on The View, Meghan McCain shared in her memoir Bad Republican:
"[I felt like I was] often being punished and singled
out for being a conservative. [...] The View is billed as being honest
and open. [...] But the truth is that the environment of the show is toxic."
McCain also said her relationships with The View co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar
became increasingly strained as the years went on. McCain wrote in Bad Republican:
"My take on the show is that working at The View brings out the worst in people.
I believe that all the women and the staff are working under conditions
where the culture is so [messed] up, it feels like quicksand."
McCain summed up her feelings about her role on the show in one of the
most explosive episodes from 2019. After being pressed repeatedly by Goldberg and
Behar to explain why Republicans were supporting Trump, she fired back,
"I know you're angry."
"You bet I'm angry."
"I do think you're angry that Trump's president, like a lot of people are."
"I am angry about every single thing he's doing."
"But I don't think yelling at me is gonna fix the problem."
When asked about McCain's recollections about a toxic workplace in 2021, Goldberg told TooFab,
quote, "Alright." When pressed for more information on McCain's departure,
Goldberg gestured towards the show's offices and responded,
"You'd need to talk to the adults."
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Nicki Swift videos about your favorite TV shows are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.