Rosie O’Donnellco-hostedThe Viewfor two seasons, with a seven-year gap betweenher stints.
Ramin Setoodeh’s new bookLadies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story ofThe View, alleges that Lisa Hackner, ABC’s executive vice president of daytime and syndication, toldWhoopi Goldbergin 2014 that O’Donnell was getting rehired after Barbara Walters’ departure “to save the show.”
O’Donnell and Goldberg hadclashed years earlierin 2009, when O’Donnell expressed her disagreement with Goldberg’s assertion that director Roman Polanski hadn’t committed “rape rape,” despite having pled guilty to statutorily raping then-13-year-old Samantha Geimer in 1979. Goldberg supposedly sent O’Donnell an “angry letter,” and O’Donnell says she responded diplomatically.
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“I’m sorry if that hurt your feelings,” O’Donnell wrote back to Goldberg, perLadies Who Punch. “I have different feelings about it than you. And I stand up for what I believe, but I’ll never bet against you, Whoopi Goldberg.”
“Some people would say, ‘What’s going on with you and Whoopi?’ “ O’Donnell recalls in the tell-all book. “I was like, ‘Are you watching the show? It’s pretty much right there.’ I have no desire for a public feud.”
Staffers noticed O’Donnell had been more “on edge” during her second time around on The View, the book reports, adding that she would even complain aboutGoldbergto celebrity guests.
RELATED VIDEO: Whoopi Goldberg Gets Into a Screaming Match with Fox News’ Judge Jeanine Pirro on The View
“Whoopi Goldberg was as mean as anyone has ever been on television to me, personally—while I was sitting there,” O’Donnell told Setoodeh. “Worse than Fox News. The worst experience I’ve ever had on live television was interacting with her.”
O’Donnell admits, though, that she “revered” Goldberg before working with theGhoststar.
“She’s a minority, feminist, smart, funny, groundbreaking legend who is black in America,” O’Donnell says. “I’m never going to not have respect for Whoopi Goldberg. But that was a painful experience, personally and professionally.”
•For more onThe View,pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on stands Friday
Perry Hagopian
The mother of fiveexitedThe Viewfor a second timein February 2015 after six months back on the show, citing her family and health reasons. Goldbergcontinues to serve as a co-host.
Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story ofThe View is out April 2.
source: people.com
