Joy Behar opened up to Us Weekly on Wednesday, April 8, about Dr. Fredric Brandt's sudden death this week from suicide.
"I was totally shocked," Behar, 72, told Us at The Hollywood Reporter's 35 Most Powerful People in Media event at the Four Seasons Restaurant in NYC. "I had no clue. I got a message from a friend of mine at night. I was watching TV, and I didn’t sleep the whole night."
The former View co-host told Us that while she hasn't seen Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, she believed that Dr. Brandt's issues extended far beyond Martin Short's satirical portrayal of him on the series. "I wouldn't say you could attribute a suicide to something like that," she told Us. "There's more going on there."
Brandt, who was nicknamed the "Baron of Botox," specialized in anti-aging techniques and treated celebrity clientele including Madonna and Stephanie Seymour.
Despite the controversial circumstances surrounding his death, Behar told Us that she thinks Tina Fey — the creator of the Netflix original series — is "brilliant."
"I certainly admire Tina Fey's total attack on Sarah Palin," Behar noted of the SNL alum's most famous impression. "But [Palin] is a politician, and politicians to me, it's open season on them. A private citizen is a little bit more of an ambiguous situation, but I personally reserve a special place in hell for politicians. Neil Simon once said that you can write about your family because they won't recognize themselves when they come to see it, but in this case, I think it was quite obvious."
Behar joked of her tumultuous political feuds with people like Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Star Jones, and Bill O'Reilly. "I've gotten in trouble plenty with politicians," she noted to Us Wednesday. "But that doesn't bother me at all." Even when they complain, Behar tells them to "f— off!" she told us with a laugh.
