Rosie O'Donnell says Whoopi Goldberg was the meanest person on The View: 'The worst experience ever'
Rosie O'Donnell's confession that she had a "crush" on the ex 'The View' co-host Elisabeth Hasselback has already raised plenty of eyebrows. Now adding fuel to fire, the O'Donnell seems to have confessed that she and Whoopi Goldberg were involved in a 'public feud' on the talk show.
In the book titled 'Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story Of The View' by Ramin Setoodeh, the 57-year-old revealed, "Whoopi Goldberg was as mean as anyone has ever been on television to me, personally - while I was sitting there." O'Donnell had been a co-host on the Emmy winning show between the years 2006-2007 and then again in 2014, before quitting in 2015 after citing personal reasons. She shared that her time on the show was not a pleasant experience.
In a small excerpt that US Weekly was able to obtain, O'Donnell had shared with Ramin, "Whoopi Goldberg was as mean as anyone has ever been on television to me, personally — while I was sitting there. Worse than Fox News. The worst experience I’ve ever had on live television was interacting with her.
O'Donnell and Whoopi had a clash of opinions in 2009 because O'Donnell did not agree with her co-host's assertion that director Roman Polanski hadn’t committed “rape rape,” despite having pled guilty to statutorily raping then-13-year-old Samantha Geimer in 1979. Whoopi even sent O'Donnell an 'angry letter' claims People. But soon O'Donnell realized that her ideas were being shut down by the 'Sister Act' star and others also could notice the coldness between the two.
"Some people would say, ‘What’s going on with you and Whoopi? I was like, ‘Are you watching the show? It’s pretty much right there.’ I have no desire for a public feud," she revealed. Recently, O'Donnell took back her claims that she had a "crush" on Elisabeth Hasselback and insisted that her "crush was not sexual." Hasselback slammed O'Donnell for admitting that she had a crush on her while they were working with each other, ten years ago. Hasselback appeared on Fox & Friends and said, "I'll be very honest: I read it and I immediately started praying,' said mother-of-three Hasselbeck. 'I pray now the Holy Spirit gives me the words to articulate this, but I think it can be addressed with both truth and grace."
"If you took her words and you replaced "Rosie" for "Ronald," there would be an objectification of women in the workplace, so that is disturbing and it's wrong. And whether you're a man or whether you're a woman and you're objectifying women in the workplace, it's wrong," she continued.
In response to this, O'Donnell shared that her feelings were non-sexual and said she was "sorry u got scared." "hey eh - my crush on u was not sexual - sorry u got scared - surely u recall b4 it all went wrong - I never objectified u - I did find u fantastic - Broadway shows - my pool -we were friends once god love ya kid - I always did #hasselbeck #raminSUX'" she wrote. O'Donnell had also shared that she felt like a mentor to Hasselback when they worked together, but eventually developed a non-sexual "crush".
Whoopi, meanwhile, has been absent from the show's proceedings for quite some time. While fans speculated she was taking a break because of the Oscars, Joy Behar addressed the theories surrounding the absence of her View co-host and clarified that the 63-year-old actress was recovering from pneumonia.