Drama, drama, drama. Elisabeth Hasselbeck left her cohosting gig on The View in July 2013 after months of rumors that she was going to be fired for her conservative opinions. The Survivor alum later confirmed in her memoir that she was let go from the daytime talk show, but just-released audio proves that she tried to exit the series nearly seven years prior.
During the August 2, 2006, episode, Hasselbeck, now 41, got into an argument with cohost Barbara Walters about the possibility of the FDA allowing the morning-after pill to be made available over the counter. The former Fox & Friends cohost became so angry that Walters, now 89, asked her to “stop” talking so they could move on, then Hasselbeck tore up her note cards, stormed off the stage and tried to quit her job.
Variety obtained audio of Hasselbeck telling cohost Joy Behar backstage: “F—k that. I’m not going to sit there and get reprimanded on the air. I am not going to get reprimanded. No, it’s not OK to sit there and get reprimanded on the air. … What the f—k? I’m not going back out there. I’m not going back out there. … I can take it in the meeting; I’m not taking it out there on air. I’m not taking that. What the f—k? I don’t even swear; she has me swearing. This woman is driving me nuts. I’m not … going back out. I can’t do the show like this. She just reprimanded me and she knew exactly what she was doing. Goodbye! I’m off.”
The Deliciously G-Free cookbook author could then be heard speaking to a producer and “quitting” the show. “I don’t need to be reprimanded on air like that by this woman,” she asserted through tears. “I will take it in the meeting. I will not take that on air. … I’m over. I’m leaving.”
Then-executive producer Bill Geddie rushed to convince Hasselbeck to return to the stage. “I already beat up on [Walters] about it,” he told the Rhode Island native. “You are a professional. You’ve got to go back out there.”
Eventually, Hasselbeck took a deep breath and rejoined her cohosts. “The wonderful thing about this show is that we can have discussions that we feel very emotional about,” Walters told Hasselbeck when the cameras started rolling again. “We respect your opinions … and I love your passion.”
Hasselbeck cohosted The View for nearly a decade until she was dismissed in July 2013. She explained in her recently released book, Point of View: A Fresh Look at Work, Faith, and Freedom, that executives told her they would not renew her contract because the show was “going in a less political direction.”
She wrote, “I could not breathe — literally, could not breathe. I was bent over — shock, asthma and betrayal all stealing my wind.”
The View recently made headlines after author Ramin Setoodeh wrote a book titled Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of The View about the years of drama behind the show.
