Rosie O'Donnell: Barbara Walters Exaggerates, There Was No Camaraderie Off-Camera On "The View"

UPDATE: Walters responded saying "Get a life"

Rosie O'Donnell, whose NBC variety show airs next week, cannot shake questions about her tumultuous time on "The View." And Wednesday morning, she fanned the flames by telling reporters that Barbara Walters misrepresents the camaraderie among co-hosts of "The View."

The Los Angeles Times' Denise Martin reports:

Barbara Walters, [Rosie] told reporters on Wednesday morning, "wanted everyone to believe and think and act as if [the women on 'The View'] get along and are really good friends and happy and hang out together, and, you know, that's just not the reality.

"I'm not saying they loathe each other, but the fact of the matter is, there was not a lot of camaraderie off camera."

O'Donnell famously exited the ABC daytime talk show after months of politically charged bickering with her co-hosts, among them Elisabeth Hasselbeck, who came under scrutiny again in this election year as the show's only staunchly conservative voice.

But she conceded "arguing about politics is not the best use of my talent."

"I didn't grow up thinking, 'I hope I can talk about politics.' If you watch my stand-up comedy, I talk about my life, my family. It only became about [politics] with the job on 'The View.'

Rosie's former sparring partner, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, has been at the center of countless fights on "The View" this election season, but Rosie has reportedly mended fences with the conservative co-host (despite calling her Sarah Palin's "identical cousin" and saying both are "women who hunt in high heels").

There have long been rumors of a feud between Rosie and Barbara Walters, though Walters denies them and has said she has "enormous affection" for Rosie. Rosie has said that Walters fired her from "The View," despite the official stance that it was a mutual agreement that she would leave the program.

"Rosie Live" airs Nov. 26 at 8PM, and is expected to feature Liza Minnelli, Alec Baldwin, Ne-Yo, Alanis Morissette, Gloria Estefan, Kathy Griffin and Jane Krakowski.

The headline and body of this article originally suggested Rosie O'Donnell said Barbara Walters lies about the co-hosts' camaraderie. Upon reevaluating the story, the word "lies" was removed in favor of "exaggerates" and "misrepresents."

Comments

[jagoneely]

This article seems skewed in a certain direction. I have watched The View off and on since it began, and I agree with rosie for the most part. Hasselbeck says some crazy stuff, but Rosie made a lot of sense. She didn't bicker with any other host than Hasselbeck, and for good reason. Could you stand to hear someone defend Bush, the Patriot Act, sanitizing the war in Iraq, Cheney, etc? Rosie was honest. You don't have to agree with everything she said to know she said what she felt was true.

[hudsuckerproxy]

I lost what little respect I had for Barbara Walters when she did not insist that Hasselbeck apologize for trashing Michelle Obama at the RNC luncheon:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/10/elisabeth-hasselbeck-rips_n_125309.html

[SouthPrairie]

They both kinda come off as quintessential "mean girls."

[jeplanet]

That's quite an impressive line-up for her show.
I'll have to check that out.

[scared4ALL]

Rosie is a good person. She opened many eyes and is a true American Patriot. If you watched her on The View, you know this is fact.

[one4obama]

Are you implying that all the others on The View are not true American Patriots?

Whew - you are really reaching, aren't you?

[Eric8869]

Hasselbeck is not a true American Patriot when she supports Republicans who make their rich war profiteer buddies rich while the troops don't get proper equipment and protection.

[kaukerc]

I loved Rosie on the view. She was the only one who was willing to stick her neck out and tell Elizabeth that she was full of crap. You can tell that the camaraderie presently on the view is acting at its worst. Some days I think Joy Behar is about to jump out of her chair and strangle Elizabeth. Whoopi does an excellent job of hiding her disgust--- but then again, she does have an academy award. I think Barbara's idea to have woman who have opposing view points is a good one--- however, Elizabeth is so rigid in her thinking you might as well have Anne Coulter sitting there. There is absolutely no difference. Until Barbara does something about Elizabeth, the view is going to continue to lose viewers. It's like watching a train wreck.

[flyers]

The View is a ridiculous show. And like most shows these days, it is stacked with liberals, and only has one conservative on it. Look at Bill Maher's show every week, they usually get one republican to come on the show and then they mock that person and team up them with the crowd as it isn't even a debate anymore. The View is the same way as they have Whoopi, Sherri, and Joy on the left, Barbara tries to play the middle, and Hasselback is the only person defending the right. Yeah, thats fair:) I think Hasselback is a dimwit, but I feel bad for her cause she is playing against a stacked deck. If the liberals would even out the panels on these shows, maybe I would start watching again.....

[lastcallmd]

Good grief, is she back? Don't go away mad, Rosie, but please do go away......

[ChiGuy]

Used to be a fan. But her drama over the past few years tells me that she needs help.

[Eric8869]

Yes she finally expressed her political opinions so she needs help. please.

[ricchase]

I have always considered Barbara Walters a lady with class. To publicly call her a "liar" for no good reason is a classless act and beneath O'Donnell's "persuasion".

[rzan1]

What do you mean by "persuasion?"

[reggieb]

can we move beyond Junior High?

[Nick127]

Rosie is on a timer of every six months she has to make some noise.

[ibivi]

She's got something to plug so she's blabbing about Baba Wawa. It gets her back on HuffPo.

[HARLEYSRULE]

Rosie is old news nobody want to listen to.

[bluejoewho]

Not true. I look forward to her new show.

[jesoph]

You and the others who are looking forward to it add up to a grand total of one.

[luckyoldson]

Never say "old" to Barb.

[larry278]

There are times when Rosie can be funny. Drama isn't Rosie's forte. Rosie is as unsuited to drama as Susan Lucci is unsuited to drama. When Ms Lucci, at last, got a day-time Emmy, that proved that the Emmy is simply a token of an orgy of self-congratulation which is mistakenly called an award ceremony by those involved in show biz. Show biz types are obsessed with puffery & self-congr­atulation.
Shall we go back to speaking of the choices BHO is making for his administration.

[theiccemann]

This goes beyond, who cares.