A then-pregnant Elisabeth Hasselbeck with Joy Behar and Barbara Walters when Walters got a star on the Walk of Fame. 6/14/07. Credit: WENN

Remember when Sherri Shepherd started crying on “The View” the day after Obama won and said she could now tell her son that anything was possible and it would be true? Token conservative Elisabeth Hasselbeck was the next person to express her feelings about Obama’s election and she seemed genuinely affected by both Sherri’s emotional response and the elation of a large portion of the country. Showing some patriotism and probably an innate deference to authority, Elisabeth said she would “get in a long line of supporters… and support our president because that is what an American should do.”

According to the National Enquirer, Elisabeth may have been a lot more affected by the potential loss of her job than by the optimism and hope sweeping the nation. Hasselbeck campaigned for McCain and Palin and made some rude remarks about future first lady Michelle Obama’s preshow requests, a real faux pas for a talkshow hostess. Her boss, sourpuss Barbara Walters, is now worrying that the sought-after first lady will shun the talk show if Elisabeth doesn’t get on board quick. Walters is said to have demanded that Elisabeth make a statement in support of Obama and she even wants her to write a personal letter of apology to Michelle:

After months of criticizing President-elect Barack Obama on “The View,” the talk show’s resident Republican Elisabeth Hasselbeck has done a surprising about-face and now says she supports him.

Insiders tell The Enquirer she’s been forced to play nice because Barbara Walters fears Michelle Obama might boycott the show because of Elisabeth’s nasty remarks about the future first lady.

In September, Elisabeth hosted a luncheon for Cindy McCain and told the crowd that both Cindy and Michelle had appeared on “The View,” and that “unlike another wife of a political candidate who shall remain nameless, Cindy McCain had nothing to hide.”

Elisabeth was referring to the fact that during Michelle’s appearance, she did not want the conversation focused on the controversial Rev. Jeremiah Wright or on the Obama’s two young daughters.

Barbara blew up at Elisabeth when she heard that Michelle had found out about Elisabeth’s caustic comments.

“Barbara told her that if Michelle never appeared on the show again, it would be her fault,” continued the source. “She told Elisabeth she better declare on the air that she supports the country’s pick…

Barbara also wants Elisabeth to send Michelle a letter of apology.

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, November 24, 2008]

The Enquirer gets a lot of scoops about The View and I would bet they have a very solid source. There have been rumors that Elisabeth might leave the show to become one of those attractive one note pundits on Fox, but she’s denied plans to leave. Now that the political climate of the nation has changed and Fox is just singing the same old misleading song Elisabeth has little choice but to change her tune. At least she seems convincing about it.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck is shown in Vegas during a live taping of ‘The View’ on 6/24/08. Credit: WENN
Last month we reported that host Sherri Shepherd had drawn the ire of The View’s grande dame, Barbara Walters, and that Barbara was considering letting her go. Shepherd was involved in a minor controversy in which she said some regrettable things to a Christian woman’s magazine about how she’d had more abortions than she’d cared to count and that she’d like to see her boss Barbara “saved” by a televangelist.

Fast forward to the heated discussions on the show about the contentious US Presidential race and it’s token conservative Elisabeth Hasselbeck who’s pissing off the 78 year-old co-creator and co-producer. Elisabeth got upset in a discussion on air about VP Republican candidate Sarah Palin and Walters had to tell her to “calm down” and the show went to a commercial. Off air, The National Enquirer reports that Walters scolded 31 year-old Elisabeth and told her that if she can’t be measured in her opinions she should get a new job:

Elisabeth… got snippy [with her "View co-hosts] during a heated discussion of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on the show’s September 2 season premiere.

Sensing the debate was spinning out of control, Barbara ordered Elisabeth, an ardent Republican, to “calm down,” and the show immediately cut to a commercial.

“During the break, Barbara lashed out at Elisabeth,” an insider revealed. “In her typical style, she maintained her composure so it appeared everything was OK, but she made it clear to Elisabeth that she needed to calm down…”

When the taping was over, the… TV veteran had more to say to Elisabeth, according to the source.

“Barbara told Elisabeth that everyone welcomes her opinions, but demanded that she find an appropriate way to express them, and she said that if Elisabeth can’t do that, then maybe she should consider a new line of work,” said the insider.

“Elisabeth got teary-eyed and told Barbara that she feels as if the others are always ganging up on her. But Barbara quickly pointed out that Elisabeth brings most of that on herself.”

[From the National Enquirer, print edition, September 22, 2008]

It seems like they could get another conservative on The View to back up Elisabeth and represent the other side. Sherri Shepherd doesn’t count because she’s not informed enough, has admitted she’s never voted, and just comes off as a ditz. Elisabeth is decent with the guests, but she does try and dominate the conversation when they’re talking politics and her points aren’t that educated. She also gets too upset when people don’t agree with her. I like to see Whoopi because she’s funny, kind and a breath of fresh air on that show. She’s liberal but really measured in the way she presents things and is mellow and friendly. If Barbara wants a balanced panel she should create one. As it is, a lot of people say it’s skewed left and that Hasselbeck is a weak voice for the right.

If everyone got along though the show would lose some of its appeal and we definitely wouldn’t be talking about it as much. When Hasselbeck’s liberal nemesis Rosie was there The View got some of its best ratings despite being difficult to watch. With good-natured Whoopi running things it’s not as contentious and just doesn’t generate as much buzz despite being a much better show. Add a conservative version of Whoopi and it will be more sweetness and light and agreeing to disagree.

Sherri Shepherd publicly apologized on air for saying in an interview with a Christian Women’s magazine that she hoped her boss, Barbara Walters, could “get saved” by a televangelist. She said in the same interview that she went through a very rough time when she was young and that she’d “had more abortions than I would like to count.” After the details of the interview were widely publicized, Shepherd clarified her remarks, saying that she was not glamorizing abortion and that she hoped to inspire women who also felt extreme guilt and shame over having an abortion. She also claimed that her quotes were taken out of context and that she was joking about wanting to have Walters saved.

Shepherd said she called Barbara Walters ahead of time to warn her that the quote was going to be published, and that Walters laughed and acted like it wasn’t a big deal. A show source tells the National Enquirer that Barbara is fed up with with Sherri and the idiotic things she says on air and that the “saved” comment was just Sherri’s latest gaffe to piss her off:

“Barbara has had it with her,” said the source. “Barbara was shocked that Sherri would say she needs to be ‘saved’. She’s dumbfounded by the stupid things that keep coming out of Sherri’s mouth…

Barbara has been saying that Sherri’s a “loose cannon,” added the source. “And after hearing what she said to a Christian magazine, word came back from Barbara that she wants to boot her off the show.

“Barbara thinks Sherri has become far worse of a problem than Star Jones and Rosie’s O’Donnel when they were on the show – and that’s saying a lot!”

While Barbara is ready to see Sherri move on from “The View,” insiders say it’s unlikely there will be a dramatic firing.

“Barbara may first give her a chance to shape up before shipping her out…

“And if Barbara does let Sherri go, expect a fun farewell with the whole gang saying only nice things about Sherri in public.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, August 11, 2008]

Everyone else on The View may be smarter than Sherri – and that’s not saying much considering that Sherri thinks Jesus came before the Romans – but Barbara Walters’ personality is shrewish and she sticks out on that panel. Barbara is constantly making the celebrity guests on the show uncomfortable with blunt questions. The View is a roundtable talkshow with an audience, it’s not a one on one interview like Walters is used to and she has to tone down the personal questions.

The show is so much more watchable when Whoopi is there running everything without Barbara. Yes Sherri says stupid things, but she’s earnest about it and she’s not really hurting anyone. Sherri’s dumb observations are a kind of comic relief and the other women make excuses for her and help her out. Barbara would do better to retire than to try and get rid of Sherri. Sherri isn’t the one who’s dragging the show down.

The cast of The View is shown at a panel discussion on 4/9/08. Credit: MLM/Fame Pictures

There’s yet another feud brewing among the women who host ABC talkshow The View. In Touch claims to have insider information that some of the hosts on the panel are complaining about how often executive producer Barbara Walters talks about her bestselling biography, Audition. Joy Behar has a book that could really use the on-air publicity, and Sherri Shepherd has a new memoir coming out, but neither have been allowed to mention their books much and are complaining to higher-ups:

An insider tells In Touch that Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd and Elisabeth Hasselbeck aren’t happy that Barbara keeps using the ABC talk show to shill her memoir Audition. “Off the air, the co-hosts have complained to executives that the show has become an infomercial for Barbara,” says the insider. Adding to the annoyance? “Joy didn’t get to promote her recent book When You Need a Lift nearly as much, and Sherri has been asked to wait to announce her deal for her outn memoir, Permission Slips, until Barbara’s summer book tour is over,” says the insider. A rep for The View denies that there’s any tension over the book.

[From In Touch, print edition, July 14, 2008]

Barbara Walters really came off as a shrew while she was promoting that book. She rudely said to Ellen that ““I love you whether you ever read my book,” even though Ellen was praising different parts of the book and asking questions about it. Walters essentially dissed Ellen by suggesting she hadn’t read it.

There was also a controversy over the married US Senator she admitted having an affair with and the way she so candidly talked about the debacle with Star Jones getting freebies for her wedding by mentioning sponsors right on the show. Barbara also told Oprah that it was obvious Star had gastric bypass surgery, something Star had previously admitted, but said that it was ridiculous that Star kept insisting on air that pilates and diet were helping her lose weight so quickly. Of course Star deserves the criticism and she shot back with a rude ass response of her own. It seems that Barbara isn’t so different than Star and will use the show for her own purposes as much as she wants to.

I’ve watched The View both with Barbara Walters and without, and the interviews flow better when she’s not there. She asks rude questions and sits there like a smug queen. Whoopi really pulls that show together and adds a lot of humor. She should be in charge and Barbara should retire.

Photo credits: Walters is shown at The Trover Shop bookstore in Washington, DC on 5/8/08, thanks to photographer Carrie Devorah for WENN.

Barbara Walters was on Ellen today, and the first part of the segment was interesting enough, but after the break she conducted the interview like one of her own, talking in her boring low-tone voice about her book and droning on about her life while Ellen sat there looking a bit uncomfortable. At one point Barbara made a reference to a section of the book that she seemed to know Ellen had not read yet and said something like “once you get past Fidel Castro…”

At the end of interview, Ellen tried to make a nice comment about Walters’ NY apartment, saying it was filled with photos of her with all the amazing people she’d interviewed. Ellen then said the book was fascinating, and Barbara concluded in a condescending way:

“Can I say that I love you whether you ever read my book or not. You’ve always been so good to me. I think you’re so cute.”

Ellen answered graciously “Well thank you, I have read it, and I love you too. Thank you so much.”

It just seemed rude and arrogant for Barbara to point out that Ellen hadn’t read the book yet, as if she has to read the entire book of every single author that comes on her show before she can conduct an interview. It was like she was establishing that she’s the seasoned interviewer and Ellen needed to be taken to task for not doing enough preparation. Ellen couldn’t get a word in edgewise anyway.

Maybe Barbara reads every book of every one of her interview subjects cover to cover, but Ellen has less time to prepare and she has to interview handfuls of people every week. She has a different type of show which usually relies on humor and jokes to keep it fun, something that Barbara was almost completely unable to adapt to.

Barbara Walter’s autobiography, Audition, has been out for a week and is now number one on the USA Today bestseller’s list.

Header image is from 5/13/08, thanks to WENN.

Barbara Walters on Ellen, Part 1. Says she doesn’t know how to drive.

Barbara Walters on Ellen, Part 2, the “I love you whether you ever read my book” starts at around 4:30 in.

The National Enquirer has the details from Barbara Walters’ upcoming book, Audition: A Memoir, which includes all the affairs she had – when she was married, when she was single with married men, and when she was single with men you might consider fug who happened to be powerful. Walters promoted the book by confessing to Oprah of an affair 30 years ago with married US senator Edward Brooke. Brooke’s wife passed away 13 years ago, and The Enquirer reports that an insider claims “she hated Barbara Walters till the day she died” and blamed her for their divorce. Wikipedia says 88 year-old Brooke now lives in Miami with his second wife and has two daughters and a son. He has refused to comment about Walters’ memoir and their supposed affair.

78 year-old Walters figures she may as well open the floodgates on her past since no one else is going to cash in on it for her. She was married and divorced three times and has plenty of stories to tell. Other men she had relationships with include former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, former Bear Sterns CEO Alan Greenberg, and Virginia Senator John Warner. (Before he was a Senator.)

Here’s the Enquirer’s details of her affair with a married man. Although they don’t specify exact dates, if it was shortly after her first marriage ended she would have been around 30.

Next up [after her failed first marriage of three years] was a clandestine affair with a married man named Claude Phillippe, the head of catering at several Posh NY hotels.

“He knew all about wine, food, restaurants and was the epitome of sophistication. He started to call. I was thrilled. And so began two of the most romantic years of my life. I wasn’t thinking of marrying again, so his being married didn’t bother me…” says Barbara

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, May 19, 2008]

The Enquirer says that Barbara then met her second husband, theatrical producer Lee Gruber, on a blind date, and divorced him after 10 years. They adopted a baby daughter together in 1968, when Barbara was 39. Next was her affair with senator Brooke for several years.

After that affair came tumbling down, she moved on to Alan Greenspan, John Warner before he was a senator and again after his divorce from Liz Taylor, and Alan ‘Ace’ Greenberg. In 1986, she was married for a third time to producer Merv Adelson. That marriage only last six years.

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, May 19, 2008]

Maybe we can assume Walters had it the hardest for Brooke, since that’s who she’s talking about after all this time. The lady is 78 years old, though, and she gave marriage a try a few times. She cheated but she’s open about it. And it sounds like her last secret affair was with Brooke, and that was over 30 years ago.

As for Star Jones, who lit into Barbara for telling it like it is about the way Star lied about her gastric bypass surgery and got freebies for her wedding by mentioning sponsors on The View – Barbara says “Poor woman, she’s gone through so much.” I love it.

We created the inset image of some of Barbara’s lovers, but credit goes for the idea to The National Enquirer. Barbara Walters is shown in the header on at the 2008 AARP Inspire Awards on 12/3/07, thanks to PRPhotos.

Update: I was wrong that the last time Walters cheated was with Brooke. The NY Post reports today that she was sleeping with the two Alans at the same time, and that before that she was cheating on Edward Brooke with Alan Greenberg. Edward Brooke had asked his wife of 30 years for a divorce so he could be with Barbara in the open, reports The Post, but she then dumped him after a Nixon cabinet member told her the affair was a liability to her career. Damn Barbara!

They quote a conservative media group as saying “Barbara has now sunk to the very level of other attention-starved celebrities such as Paris Hilton or even Steve-O from ‘Jackass.’ ”

Star Jones and Barbara Walters didn’t part company on The View on amicable terms and they’re still not willing to bury the hatchet and move on. Barbara talks about Star candidly in her new upcoming memoir, and includes details about how she used The View to promote wedding sponsors and lied about her gastric bypass surgery.

Barbara Walters said Star was dishonest, greedy on “The View”
Walters gave details of her book in an interview on Oprah yesterday, saying “We had to lie on the set every day because [Star] said it was portion control and Pilates. Well, we knew it wasn’t portion control and Pilates. And the whole point of the program is honesty.” Barbara also said that the viewers didn’t relate to Star anymore after that big obvious lie and that they turned on her.

She dished candidly on Star’s freebie wedding and the way she took advantage of sponsors, saying “The audience, instead of seeing her as this lovely, romantic bride, began to see her as a greedy bride.” Barbara also made it clear that Star manipulated her by giving an interview to People announcing she was leaving The View before it was covered on the show. [via Oprah.com]

Star already admitted to gastric bypass and to first telling View co-hosts
That’s rude of Barbara and all, but it’s not like she’s telling us anything we didn’t know. Star herself eventually admitted she had gastric bypass surgery, as if it wasn’t painfully obvious to everyone following her super rapid weight loss. She told Glamour, in an article published last August, that she kept it quiet because “I didn’t know if the surgery would work. I had never stuck to a diet or committed to exercise for more than a month.”

Star also admitted to Glamour that she told her View co-hosts firsts, so it’s not like Walters is giving us new or private information about Ms. “Wedding for Sale” Jones, she’s just saying she didn’t like the way she handled herself.

Star issues scathing response to Barbara
The newly-separated unemployed Star is showing us all why she’s persona non grata on television now – she really is nasty and can’t wait to attack back. She issued a statement laying into Barbara and personally insulting her, saying Barbara’s other revelations in her memoir about having an affair with a senator 20 years ago humiliated an innocent family “for the sake of selling a book”:

“It is a sad day when an icon like Barbara Walters, in the sunset of her life, is reduced to publicly branding herself as an adulterer, humiliating an innocent family with accounts of her illicit affair and speaking negatively against me all for the sake of selling a book,” Jones told Us. “It speaks to her true character.”

[From US Magazine]

Star should have stewed in her juices for a while before she barked back at Barbara. Now she has even less chance at getting some kind of entertainment career. She’s a lawyer, so maybe she can go work insane hours at a law firm or something. She seems like she’d be really good at scaring people on her clients’ behalf.

Update: Here’s the video. The part where Barbara dishes about Star starts at about 3 minutes in:

Sometime co-host Kathy Griffin has reportedly been banned for a second time from appearing on that post-menopausal bitch-fest, The View. Seems that every time Kathy comes on the show, she uses it as fodder for her stand-up comedy routines, in which she mercilessly skewers the celebrity guests and hosts—including Barbara Walters.

Kathy Griffin is an outspoken comedian who has apparently stepped over the line, at least where Barbara Walters is concerned. Griffin does a dead on impersonation of Babs. She has been performing her standup act in a sold out run at Madison Square Garden. Her final show is tonight, and she had planned to be a guest on this morning’s broadcast of the popular talk show, The View.

Griffin apparently received a phone call yesterday from the shows producer Bill Geddie. He informed her that they have canceled her scheduled appearance because she was too mean to Barbara during her last special on Bravo.

The comedian said that she had been banned once before, but was incredulous to have been rebanned. Griffin is likely to use this momentary setback as fodder for her stand up act. Babs may regret the slight because of the ensuing fallout that is likely to occur.

[From Bitten and Bound]

Barbara Walters really needs to get over herself. It’s obvious that Kathy Griffin idolizes Walters, and is poking fun in the same, good-natured way a kid sister picks on her older sibling. Griffin herself has admitted to antagonizing Walters on the set because she loves trying to “shock” her. It also happens to be hilarious. Besides, Griffin isn’t the first comedienne to mimic Walters—Gilda Radner did a killer impression of Babs on Saturday Night Live back in the ‘70s. If Walters had been hosting this piece of crap show back then, Gilda probably would have been banned, too.

Well it’s not much of a surprise, but ABC announced that Whoopi Goldberg will fill Rosie O’Donnell’s position as the moderator on “The View.” Whoopi makes a lot of sense in that position, as she is similar to Rosie, though she strikes me as someone who is less easily baited. Like O’Donnell, she’s also a known commodity, and very liberal.

“I have known Whoopi for years,’ Walters said in a statement released to ABCNews.com today. ‘She is brilliant, funny and irrepressible, and is an enormously popular and talented star. We are delighted that she is going to join the program as our moderator. This is going to be a great new chapter for ‘The View.’”

Goldberg, 51, has sat in as a guest host since O’Donnell’s departure. She joins Walters and current “View” panelists Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Joy Behar.

“This is a big old thrill for me,” said Goldberg, who appeared with her new colleagues toward the end of the show. “The thing I’m looking forward to the most are the hot topics and everyone trying to get in at the same time.”

[From ABC News]

Whoopi has been an outspoken opponent of the Bush administration and the Iraq war, so we’ll obviously see some more fighting with Elizabeth Hasselbeck. Somehow I don’t think it’ll be quite as personal as the Rosie v. Elizabeth matches, but who knows. Rosie could be a little immature and sink to name calling and the like. I can’t see that coming from Whoopi. But anything could happen, and “The View” certainly likes to boost its ratings with fighting co-hosts.

Nothing was said of the other vacant position, so no one knows if they’ll fill it or leave it open. Technically it’s Star Jones’ position that’s still open. Meredith Viera and Star left at about the same time, after Rosie had already been slated to fill the moderator position, which was Meredith’s. There was a lot of talk that comedian Sherri Shepherd would fill the other position, but no other names were mentioned by Barbara Walters.

“With her household-name status and vocal criticisms of President Bush, Goldberg will likely give “The View” the star power and sound bites formerly supplied by O’Donnell. On today’s show, she hinted that like her predecessor, she won’t shy away from contentious topics, regardless of whether or not her co-hosts share her opinion.

“’I’m going to be a little meaner than normal,’ she said jokingly.

“’Just be yourself.’ Hasselbeck said.”

[From ABC News]

Hopefully the show will take a slightly more sophisticated route this next season. All of the drama, in-fighting, and diva-like behavior really detracted from the smart things the co-hosts had to say. I know Rosie’s feud with Donald Trump helped her career (and probably his too) but I think it came at the expense of some dignity, for all involved. With any luck this coming season will be a little more mature, and a little less bitchy. Not that there’s anything wrong with bitchy.

This has got to be my favorite story of the week. I know the week’s only started, but I don’t think many things could beat this story, at least in terms of obviously fake planted crap. Supposedly, Ivanka Trump is being considered to replace Rosie O’Donnell on “The View.” Wouldn’t that just make Donald as happy as a little peach pie? The National Enquirer reports that Barbara Walters is seriously considering giving Ivanka the gig. Of course they also referred to her as a “hottie with brains,” so we’ll see how much truth is behind this. Of course if Barbara did give her the spot, it would certainly make for some interesting dynamics on the show. Would Donald still go on tirades? Would he go on Larry King and talk about how Ivanka is a “Big fat pig” or whatever else he called Rosie O’Donnell? Supposedly, this all comes back to Paris Hilton (who’s name we shall not mention of course).

“The National Enquirer reports that Barbara Walters wants to hire the “hottie with brains” to stick it to Paris Hilton and her parents for their shabby treatment of her when they were trying to sell the Paris post-prison interview.”

[From the New York Post]

What in the world do Paris Hilton and her family have to do with hiring Ivanka Trump? Do the Trumps and the Hiltons have some Capulet v. Montague/East Coast v. West Coast feud going on that I don’t know about? I feel like something was missing here.

I was wondering what would even qualify Ivanka to be on the show, but she’s actually more accomplished that I thought. According to Wikipedia, she is the vice president of Real Estate Development and Acquisitions at the Trump Organization. Okay we can chalk that up to nepotism. However she was accepted to Georgetown and transferred to the University of Pennsylvania and graduated magna cum laude from their prestigious Wharton School of Business. Ivanka also replaced Carolyn Kepcher as a primary boardroom judge starting in the sixth season “The Apprentice.” Whether due to nepotism or not, she has good credentials. It’ll be interesting to see if she ultimately becomes a candidate for the position.

Update by Celebitchy: This originated in Mike Walker’s column in The National Enquirer. Last week he printed an item that Paris Hilton was being considered for the open spot on The View! I thought it was such crap that I didn’t bother to print it. So when Jay wonders what Paris has to do with it, that’s the story. I doubt either one of those stories is true.