Reaching out. Jenny McCarthy shared her admiration for her former The View cohost Barbara Walters amid rumors that the veteran journalist is struggling.
“I heard that she’s in a place of not doing great, and I just talked to Sherri Shepherd about it and we’re sending some cards over to her,” McCarthy, 47, explained exclusively to Us Weekly while hosting a special edition of her SiriusXM show live from Radio Row ahead of the Super Bowl.
She added: “That woman is a juggernaut that’ll just keep going no matter what.”
McCarthy raved about working with Walters, 90, during her stint at The View. “The best thing that came out of it was Barbara Walters,” she gushed. “Being able to be there for her last year. I really soaked in as much as I could of her, like, skill set, tools, tips. I listened, took notes. So that was the best.”
Walters’ rep denied that she is not doing well, however. “I see her every two to three weeks and she’s doing just fine,” her rep told Us. “[On Thursday] we had a lovely afternoon and talked about the Oscar-nominated films and the performances. She will be watching Sunday night!”
The Masked Singer judge appeared as a cohost on the ABC talk show during season 17, which aired from 2013 to 2014. Meanwhile, Walters, who created the series, helmed The View for 17 seasons — from 1997 to 2014.
Rosie O’Donnell opened up in October 2019 about the 20/20 alum’s retreat from the public eye. “I don’t think she’s up to speaking to people now,” the comedian, 57, told Us exclusively at the time. “I think she’s a wonderful woman, and it’s hard to age in America, never mind if you’re internationally famous.”
O’Donnell noted that she will “always love and respect her and I think she’s a great person.” The SMILF alum, for her part, appeared on The View during seasons 10 and 18.
Walters’ time on the show came under fire in April 2019 upon the release of tell-all Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of The View. McCarthy, for one, claimed that the reporter yelled at her for seven minutes about autism at one point. She also alleged that the executive producer attempted to dress like her and she was forced to change clothes if she did not complement what her boss was wearing. “I was a human Barbie doll,” the Jenny McCarthy Show host said.
Elsewhere in the book, producer Jessica Stedman Guff claimed that Meredith Vieria, Star Jones, Debbie Matenopoulous and Joy Behar butted heads with Walters. “She rained on their parade,” she recalled. “It was like a bunch of sixth graders throwing s–t around the room and then the teacher walks in.”
With reporting by Alexandra Hurtado
