Watching The View

Barbara Walters appeared in a taped broadcast on The Oprah Winfrey Show today. She talked a lot about The View, as well as her affair with Senator Brooke, and her family. I will also post video of the interview if it becomes available.

* Barbara named her book Audition because she feels that she has been auditioning her whole life. She feel that she didn’t belong as a child and has been auditioning throughout her professional life.

* The View is a “very happy place” and she looks forward to doing it. The first 9 years were also happy. Then Meredith Viera announced that she was leaving and then Star Jones started to change.

* Star Jones decided not to tell people about her gastric bypass surgery and they had to sit on the show as she lied and said it was portion control and pilates. Barbara went along with the lies because Star was her colleague and she honored her wish.

* Star wanted the most extravagant wedding and so she promoted the items on the show to get them free. Barbara said “we made a big mistake” by allowing her to do the promotion. She and Bill Geddie put a stop to it, so Star went on other shows.

* Barbara does not “hire and fire” on The View and can only give her opinion. Oprah said, “But you’re Barbara Walters.” ABC said that Barbara had to tell Star that they wouldn’t renew her contract because of her changed perception into a greedy person who the fans could no longer relate to.

* They gave Star the option of saying just that she was leaving on her own. Two days prior to her last day, Star unexpectedly announced she was leaving. Star had told People over the prior weekend that she was fired because they wanted to hire Rosie O’Donnell. Barbara was “furious” with Star, but wanted her to come back the next day because she “had great affection” toward her. The network disagreed and that was Star’s last day.

* Since then, she and Star have had breakfast and made peace within one another. They did not discuss the firing incident with each other.

* Rosie O’Donnell said at the time she was hired that she wanted to “ride the bus and not drive the bus.” Barbara said that the problem is that Rosie has always driven the the bus in the past. Barbara said that Rosie has “emotional issues,” although with “rage, anger, and hurt.” She said that Rosie began to think of Barbara as her mother, which was both good and bad. When Barbara did not react how she expected, Rosie felt abandoned. Rosie was like Diana Ross and the other hosts were the Supremes. She added that Rosie made some wonderful changes to the show, but it was a difficult time.

* When Oprah brought up the Donald Trump feud, Barbara said “I would like not to go into that.” Oprah said that they had to talk about. Barbara said that the problem arose because Rosie said that Donald went bankrupt, which was not true. Donald threatened to sue ABC and Barbara personally. Barbara and Bill Geddie called Donald and she told him “I will clear that up,” referring to the bankruptcy issue. Before Barbara returned from her vacation, Donald went on all the television shows saying that Barbara told him that Rosie had been a big mistake and she shouldn’t have hired her. Barbara said that she never said those things.

* Rosie was angry with Barbara because she felt that she hadn’t supported/defended her enough. They had a fight in the dressing room. Barbara said that it was “emotionally (Rosie’s) worst day” and she had “a lot of rage.” Barbara said that she understands where the rage comes from and Rosie is “a truly lovely person.”

* After the Donald Trump feud, “ratings went sky-high” and Rosie “picked other feuds.” Rosie decided she didn’t want to come back after her contract ended. Barbara was disappointed because they had gotten over the previous fight and she was used to having Rosie around.

* The fight between Rosie and Elisabeth stemmed from the media’s mischaracterization that Rosie called the troops terrorists. Barbara said that Rosie never said that the troops were terrorists. Rosie got angry when Elisabeth would not defend her and Elisabeth told her to defend herself. Barbara called the control room of the show and told them to go to commercial. Bill Geddie thought if they went to commercial, Rosie would walk off the stage, so they stayed on.

* Barbara said, “I will always have the greatest affection for Rosie,” adding that she gave the show a boost and “brought great energy to it.”

* Barbara read Rosie’s book Celebrity Detox and called it “up and down,” and “filled with anger.” After reading it, Barbara pulled the covers over her head and stayed in bed. She said that book contains anger against Barbara, intertwined with Rosie’s memories about her mother. Barbara said that Rosie knew that and that is why Rosie didn’t promote her book.

* Each time Barbara got married, she “had a heavy heart.” She said if anyone feels that way, don’t get married.

* They discussed her affair with married Senator Edward Brooke. She feels guilty that she may have ruined his future in that he did not get re-elected. For that reason she regrets it now, but at the time it was “wonderful.”

* Barbara’s sister Jackie was mildly retarded. She loved her, but hated her at times because it caused Barbara to feel different. It is the only topic that really makes her cry. She said that her sister was her biggest influence in her life. She felt terribly guilty about her feelings about her. She named her daughter Jackie because she knew her sister would never have a child. Her sister taught her compassion, but at times it was too much to deal with. When her sister died of ovarian cancer she was alone, because Barbara had to make a speech in Milwaukee for ABC. Barbara said that she was “still auditioning, trying to be perfect.” They told her in the dressing room that her sister died and she went ahead with the speech. She still regrets not being there when her sister died.

* Barbara’s father tried to commit suicide because he was in despair over his debt. He gained and lost fortunes throughout his life as a club owner and gambler. He took an overdose of sleeping pills. She told the newspapers that he had a heart attack and no one knew he tried to commit suicide. No one asked him why he did it, but she knew.

* Barbara thought that her daughter’s life growing up was normal, but when Jackie was about 14, she got into drugs and she ran away. Barbara did not know that Jackie was into drugs at the time. Barbara was told not to go to the police, because it would be in the papers and she would run away further or get kidnapped. They found her and Jackie was sent to a special rehabilitation school for three years. Jackie now runs a similar program for teens.

* Barbara said that you have to have someone to love in your life and have a reason to get up every morning that is not your career. You also have to have some kind of spirituality in your life, whatever you call it. She also said that you must be kind and she is getting too soft to do interviews because of that fact.

The View, Barbara Walters, Rosie O’Donnell, Oprah Winfrey, Audition, Star Jones, Bill Geddie, Edward Brooke