Tragic Details About Hosts Of The View
The following article includes mentions of suicide, domestic abuse, child abuse, and eating disorders.
There is a selection of sub-genres to choose from when it comes to daytime talk shows, including morning chat shows like "LIVE with Kelly and Mark," lifestyle programs like "The Doctors," and celebrity-fronted fare like "The Kelly Clarkson Show." For a long time, the standard was one host, maybe two — and that is still convention in most cases — but "The View" completely changed the game when it arrived in 1997.
"The View" gathered a five-person panel to discuss the day's biggest social, political, and entertainment stories, and split the interviewing duties amongst the co-hosts. Not only that, but the program also centered the voices of women from differing demographics — leading to the development of other all-female panel shows like "The Talk" and "The Real."
"The View" has been on the air for more than a quarter of a century, and it has continued to evolve alongside a changing culture (and not always for the better). Much of its evolution has to do with the people working on it, both behind the scenes as well as in front of the camera. In total, there have been 24 women who have co-hosted the show — some of them for a single season and others for a decade or more. Though not all co-hosts were a good fit for the program, they are all accomplished women who have overcome obstacles in life.
Ana Navarro was unable to fulfill her dreams of being a mother
Political strategist Ana Navarro made her mark on "The View" well before she became an official co-host in August 2022, as she first began appearing on the talk show all the way back in 2015 as a Republican-identified contributor. This led to Navarro being hired as a weekly guest co-host in 2018, and her success in that role eventually led to her permanent hosting duties. Though she is still a registered Republican, Navarro has shifted away from the party since she started on "The View" and even campaigned for President Joe Biden in 2020. Viewers have warmed to Navarro especially due to her vulnerability and blunt honesty, even when it comes to personal issues like fertility.
Because it is a show centered around a panel of women, motherhood has always been a hot topic on "The View." Unlike the vast majority of current and former co-hosts, Navarro is not herself a mother, but as she explained on the show, this had been a dream of hers from a young age — only the timeline did not work out. Navarro was 47 when she married her husband Al Cardenas in 2019 (and he was in his 70s), but still gave it a shot at trying to be a mother. Unfortunately, her experience with IVF was unsuccessful. "By the time I tried, it was too late," Navarro opened up on a 2022 episode of "The View" (via People).
Sunny Hostin lost both her in-laws to COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the world, and especially on the families who lost loved ones to the illness. Celebrities might have more money than most, but all the money in the world — and even the best doctors — could not guarantee safety in the time of COVID. For Sunny Hostin's family, that devastating fact was all too real.
Not only did Hostin lose one close family member to the virus, but she lost two. Her mother-in-law and father-in-law tragically died within mere days of each other. Hostin shared the news on a January 2021 episode of "The View," with the blessing of her husband, Emmanuel Hostin, to whom she has been married since 1998. While Sunny's husband typically steers clear of the public eye, he believed it could benefit others if his wife shared the news of their loss on the show.
"He felt that from a public health standpoint that it was very important for me to share that we are deeply saddened that Manny lost both of his parents over the holidays," Sunny said during the episode. Sunny's husband is a surgeon, and both of his parents were physicians, so it tracks that the family would advocate for bringing awareness to the realities of the virus's impact. "COVID is devastating ... we want everybody to know that you may think you're healthy and that you won't be impacted, but you could be an asymptomatic carrier, you could put someone you love at risk," she added.
Alyssa Farah Griffin's father refused to attend her wedding due to politics
For many people who get married, their wedding day is one of the happiest days of their lives. While Alyssa Farah Griffin probably had a lovely time walking down the aisle, she later revealed that her father chose not to be there for the occasion due to their differing political views. Griffin joined "The View" full-time in 2022, after previously appearing as a guest on numerous occasions. The political strategist was one of the show's resident conservative voices, having worked as the White House's Director of Strategic Communication under former President Donald Trump for just under a year and previously serving in the U.S. government for several years.
Griffin left the administration in December 2020 after Trump's election loss, then angered many in her party by being critical of the former President on "The View." Her father, Joseph Farah, is a vocal Republican journalist who founded WorldNetDaily, which has been found to promote conspiracy theories. He and Griffin's stepmother were so incensed by the co-host's comments — which included calls for President Trump to resign amidst his pending impeachment — that they decided they did not want to attend her November 2021 wedding.
"Like, I love them. They were welcome to be there on my end," Griffin said on "The View" in February 2022, citing "political differences" as the reason they refused to attend her nuptials. "But if they didn't want to be there, why would I interrupt my special day by trying to have them there?"
Meghan McCain blamed herself after experiencing a silent miscarriage
Many of the co-hosts who have appeared on "The View" have been controversial to their audience. But Meghan McCain is perhaps one of the most contentious co-hosts, often being considered too liberal for the right and too conservative for the left. She is also unafraid to speak her mind, which has gotten her into trouble with politicians, the public, and even others at the table (take her longstanding feud with Joy Behar, for instance). In other instances, McCain's unfiltered nature has been endearingly refreshing. She vulnerably shared her grief on the show when her father, Senator John McCain, died in 2018, and pushed back against body shamers who critiqued her physique.
Meghan also opened up about her miscarriage, writing an op-ed for The New York Times in 2019 about the "horrendous experience." The tragic event occurred the day after her heavily scrutinized May 2019 interview on "Late Night with Seth Meyers," only a month before the op-ed was published. In 2021, McCain admitted to irrationally blaming herself for the silent miscarriage, which refers to one where there is no physical sign the baby has died.
"[I] thought that maybe because I had this chaotic experience on a late-night show or because I had a tough ... I used to argue on television for a living and I thought if maybe I had more of a serene environment or I was a calmer person or I was younger that this wouldn't have happened," she explained to Entertainment Tonight in 2021.
Candace Cameron Bure developed an eating disorder after Full House
Candace Cameron Bure appeared on "Full House" from ages 11 through 19, which means she spent the entirety of her preteen and teen years on television screens. With the level of undue media attention paid to girls' bodies at the time, Bure revealed that her struggle with bulimia surprisingly did not come to fruition until after her time on the series. "I had a great body image growing up," she said during an #EatingRecoveryDay panel in 2016 (via People). "My parents were wonderful, and protective of not allowing the entertainment industry to shape me into what they believed a standard of body image of perfection was."
Bure — who co-hosted "The View" for two seasons in 2015 and 2016 – blamed her emotional issues with how her eating disorder began to develop. These issues began when a newly married Bure moved to Montreal to support her hockey player husband's career. "The change of having worked since I was five years old to now becoming a wife and soon-to-be mom, and living in a city where I didn't have family and friends around me, I kind of lost the sense of who I was," she said on the panel. With her husband traveling endlessly, Cameron Bure turned to food for comfort, which developed into a horrid cycle that lasted on-and-off for years.
Whoopi Goldberg had a traumatic abortion as a young teen
Whoopi Goldberg has no trouble sharing intimate details about her life with the public. Throughout her prolific career, Goldberg has spoken about previously being homeless, her past drug addiction, when she worked as a phone sex operator, and her three failed marriages. She has also discussed motherhood, both in reference to her daughter, Alex — whom she gave birth to at 17 years old – as well as Alex's pregnancy that made Goldberg a grandmother at 34.
While Goldberg had her daughter young, an accidental pregnancy when she was 14 years old almost meant giving birth years earlier, since abortion was not legal at the time. The comedian detailed her experience on numerous occasions, including on "The View," where she has been moderator since 2007.
She cited her traumatic at-home abortion in debates about the overturning of Roe vs. Wade, but Goldberg has never detailed her experience as vividly on TV as she did in her essay for the book "The Choices We Made." "I sat in hot baths. I drank these strange concoctions girls told me about," she wrote (via The Hollywood Reporter). "I got violently ill. At that moment, I was more afraid of having to explain to anybody what was wrong than of going to the park with a hanger, which is what I did."
A pregnant Meredith Vieira was fired from 60 Minutes
When it comes to Meredith Vieira's tragic career setback, this situation could have been avoidable with proper accommodations for parents in the workplace. Vieira first started on "60 Minutes" as a part-time correspondent just after the birth of her first child. Though there was an understanding she would eventually transition to full-time, she asked to remain in her part-time capacity two years later because she was pregnant again.
In 1991, Vieira was fired from her job at "60 Minutes" by an executive producer after she requested to remain a part-time employee — a move that many deemed sexist and unfair but that was countered with claims Vieira was a poor worker. "I didn't go into this job misleading anybody. I was extremely direct about wanting a family," she told Entertainment Weekly in 1991. "I've never had anybody in the past question the quality of my work," she added.
Vieira has gone on to achieve great levels of fame as a journalist and TV personality, thanks in no small part to her nine seasons as moderator on "The View." Her dismissal from "60 Minutes" is but a footnote in her overall story, but the experience was a dreadful thing that she believed could have damaged her career at the time.
Rosie Perez's tumultuous childhood
Oscar-nominated actor Rosie Perez was an incredibly successful performer in acting and dance long before she joined "The View" in 2014. She was only a co-host for one season, but she left her mark and has continued to rock it in Hollywood since her departure. That level of success would be impressive for anyone, but it is especially remarkable considering how many heartbreaking traumas Perez faced in her early years.
In her 2014 memoir, "Handbook for an Unpredictable Life," Perez recounted her turbulent childhood. The actor was born to parents who were both married to other people and having an affair. She was sent to live with her aunt, who she believed to be her mother until age three, but was later put into a group home. Perez remained in group homes and foster care for the next decade, and the star was estranged from her mother – who was diagnosed with schizophrenia — for most of her life. She revealed that her mother inflicted both physical and mental abuse on her, and even punished her for disclosing sexual abuse at the hands of her half-brother.
Perez's experiences led to depression and PTSD diagnoses, and she considers herself to be the definition of a survivor. "I refused the limitations that were set upon me," she wrote. "Because I felt like I have an agenda to accomplish, and I can't do it with all of this that I'm experiencing. So therefore, I have to stay focused."
Debbie Matenopoulos had a heartbreaking fertility journey
Journalist Debbie Matenopoulos was one of the original hosts of "The View" when it debuted in 1997. She was replaced after two seasons and remained working in news, television, and voice acting. Her own history is marked by a devastating fertility journey that resulted in years of dashed hopes.
Matenopoulos appeared on Hallmark's "Home & Family" from 2013 to 2021, first as a guest co-host and then as a permanent one. It was during this time that she welcomed her daughter Alexandra, born in October 2014 with her husband, Jon Falcone. After that, Matenopoulos went through years of heartbreak during which she experienced nine miscarriages.
"I was pregnant for, like, five years straight and no one knew except my stylist that I was pregnant. I would lose them, always," she said on the "Allison Interviews" podcast in 2022. Matenopoulos explained how she discovered that her O negative blood type caused her body to "attack [any] foreign object," which could only be prevented by a medical shot. "My heart was broken so many times that I got to a point where I said, 'Okay, well, this is what the universe and what God wants, and this is just how it is supposed to be.' So, I just stopped trying." She maintained a bit of hope for potential future children via different methods, like adoption, but also expressed her continuing heartbreak from her traumatic experiences.
Raven-Symoné suffered a scary seizure when she had plastic surgery
Some plastic surgeons choose not to operate on those under the age of 18, yet Raven-Symoné was not yet 18 when she underwent dual cosmetic procedures, and she revealed on her podcast that she still feels conflicted about going under the knife so young. Symoné appeared as a co-host on "The View" from 2015 to 2016 — during which time she found herself embroiled in controversies — but rose to fame as a child when she appeared as Olivia on "The Cosby Show." She then established herself as a teen superstar with "That's So Raven" and "The Cheetah Girls," and the intense scrutiny on her body from the public led her to have liposuction.
Symoné thought she was mature for her age, having worked in the entertainment industry all her life, but now recognizes that she got surgery to appease others. "My dad suggested strongly that I should get my breasts reduced," she recounted on "The Best Podcast Ever with Raven and Miranda" in 2023. "He was like, 'So you don't feel bad, is there anything you want?' I was like, 'What? Yeah, if I get lipo, will people stop calling me fat?'"
The actor also suffered intense complications during the procedures, including a seizure. "I remember waking up and seeing everything. I was like, nah. I just started to have this dry mouth and couldn't breathe, and then I went back under, and they were like, 'Oh, yeah, you had a seizure,'" she disclosed.
Rosie O'Donnell was sexually abused by her own father
When it comes to polarizing co-hosts on "The View," Rosie O'Donnell is probably up there at the top alongside co-host and sometimes battle partner Elizabeth Hasselbeck. Then again, O'Donnell was already an outspoken and divisive personality before she joined "The View" in 2006. But whatever you think of her social and political takes, her hosting duties, or her comedy, you have to feel for the controversial star. O'Donnell's childhood was unfortunately tainted by the person who she was supposed to be able to trust the most: her own father.
O'Donnell's mother died when she was only 10 years old, after which she and her siblings were raised by their dad. In 2019, O'Donnell made a shocking disclosure when she revealed that her father sexually abused her in an interview she did for the book "Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of 'The View.'" "It started very young," she said (via Variety). "And then when my mother died, it sort of ended in a weird way, because then he was with these five children to take care of. On the whole, it's not something I like to talk about. Of course, it changes everyone." O'Donnell connected the traumatic abuse to both her body image struggles as well as the suicidal ideation she had experienced.
Lisa Ling felt frustrated with herself because of undiagnosed ADD
Though most people had heard of ADD — attention-deficit disorder — in the 1980s, far less was known about the disorder back then, and it was not on educators', doctors', or parents' radars, the way that it has since more has been discovered about it. This meant that many youth went undiagnosed, particularly females. Journalist Lisa Ling was one of those youngsters who struggled with their attention in school but had no explanation for their issues.
Ling, who was a co-host on "The View" from 1999 to 2002, was diagnosed with ADD at age 40 after she found herself reporting on the disorder and identifying with its symptoms. She got tested on her show, "Our America with Lisa Ling," where she detailed the struggles she had focusing in school. Though she eventually developed coping mechanisms, Ling said her attention issues impacted both her grades and her confidence, and left her feeling aggravated with her perceived lack of control over her focus.
"My head is kind of spinning," Ling said after the diagnosis on her show (via HuffPost) in 2014. "But I feel a little bit of relief because, for so long, I've been fighting [my attention issues] and I've been so frustrated with this inability to focus."
Joy Behar's ectopic pregnancy almost killed her
Lucky for fans, Joy Behar has said she has no plans to leave "The View" again — she left for two seasons in 2013 through 2015 — and we have to give the OG co-host props for her commitment to a job that seems incredibly chaotic and difficult. In the 25 years since the show's 1997 premiere, viewers have learned an immense amount about Behar's life, including both her highs and her lows. However, it took until 2022 for the comedian to open up and discuss one of her most catastrophic experiences — an ectopic pregnancy that nearly killed her — in a debate about abortion rights on "The View."
An ectopic pregnancy happens when a fertilized egg implants and grows in an area outside of the uterus's main body, such as in the fallopian tubes, ovaries, or cervix. An unnoticed ectopic pregnancy can cause intense bleeding that may lead to the mothers' death. This is exactly what happened to Behar, who had no idea she was pregnant when she went to a doctor with intense pain in 1979. She was told it was just menstrual cramps and given painkillers, then rushed to the hospital when a burst fallopian tube caused internal bleeding. One year after first discussing the ordeal, Behar shared more details with her co-hosts and the audience (via Decider), explaining how the experience landed her "on death's door."
Jenny McCarthy was slowly broken down during an abusive relationship
Jenny McCarthy lasted on "The View" as a co-host for one season from 2013 to 2014. During her hosting stint, she became a controversial figure for her support for the anti-vaccination movement, with her doubling own on her claims that vaccinations caused her son's autism. Despite her controversial vaccine take, McCarthy has made a career on TV on shows like "The Masked Singer." Audiences admire her goofy sense of humor and a willingness to make a fool of herself, and McCarthy is incredibly open about her life
In 2017, McCarthy unsealed a painful part of her past when she shared her experience with domestic abuse. "What I thought was gonna be a typical relationship, turned into a relationship that you would never think you would get yourself into. Especially me. I mean, I really consider myself to be pretty strong-willed and confident, even back then," she told E! News. "But I did find myself being slowly manipulated into a very, very dark, abusive — verbally abusive — relationship that could have easily killed me."
Barbara Walters' tombstone says 'no regrets,' but she detailed some
Barbara Walters was a trailblazer who lived a remarkable life before passing away in December 2022 at age 93. "The View" is simply one part of her professional legacy that also includes "Today," "20/20," "Barbara Walters Specials," and more. The first woman to anchor the evening news, Walters has interviewed hundreds of notable individuals, including every U.S. President since Nixon, many other world leaders, and far too many entertainers to count.
According to Susan Page's biography "Rulebreaker: The Life and Times of Barbara Walters" (via Axios), the legendary journalist had a key phrase engraved on her tombstone. It reads, "No regrets — I had a great life." Whereas her professional life was highly developed, the anchor often had to make sacrifices in her personal life. And while her tombstone labeled her regret-free, Walters did express regret earlier in her life over her parenting. In a 2014 ABC News special, she confessed that she wished she had spent more time with her only child, daughter Jackie, instead of focusing so much on her work.
"I regret not having more children. I regret ... I would have loved to have had a bigger family. I have one daughter, I don't have brothers and sisters," she told Piers Morgan in a CNN interview. "In terms of my career, beyond anything I expected. And I don't know what it's going to be like when I stop working."
If you or anyone you know is struggling or in crisis, dealing with domestic abuse, a victim of child abuse, or needs help with an eating disorder, contact the relevant sources below:
- Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.
- Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.
- Contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services.
- Visit the National Eating Disorders Association website or contact NEDA's Live Helpline at 1-800-931-2237. You can also receive 24/7 Crisis Support via text (send NEDA to 741-741).