From the secret crush to explosive battles: the shocking secrets of Rosie O. Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck's relationship around the world

When Rosie O Donnell joined View in 2006, four years had passed since his regular presence on television.

And if fans of his eponymous TV show were preparing to witness the return of the "Queen of Nice", well, they were preparing for a rude awakening. The O Donnell who joined Barbara WaltersABC gabfest, who was entering her 10th season at the time, was a long way from the mischievous woman who liked to propel koosh balloons into the public. In its place, there was a much more frank political brand; one who was not afraid to express his liberal point of view and who did not hesitate to make himself an enemy.

This made it the frequent target of both the conservative media and right-wing experts, and placed it – for life, it seems – against the conservative voice of the panel, Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

Before joining View itself in 2003, Hasselbeck was known to rank fourth in the second Australian season of Survivor and host the style network The search for less. But by the time O Donnell joined her at the Hot Topics table, the actor replaced the outgoing moderator. Meredith Viera In 2006, she had established herself as a resident right wing, determined to defend her views and resolved to defend them. And although she occasionally found herself in brief arguments, the arrival of O Donnell meant that she had a real opponent on the set.

And the producers – not to mention the viewers – have eaten.

The arrival of O Donnell in the long-term series has been a boon to the ratings, View to counter the general downward trend of daytime television television at the time, with a marked increase of 27% in the number of viewers three months after the start of his term. It was clear that its contradictory nature – not just with Hasselbeck, but with Donald TrumpThe Bush administration and the Catholic Church have been rewarded with gold. She was encouraged by the producers of the series to be as frank as she would like. This often caused her trouble – the racist way in which she imitated Chinese journalists was worth her disdain – and she often tied up working relationships not only with Hasselbeck but also with Walters (a social acquaintance of Trump who felt caught in the middle when a particular quarrel erupted), plagued by tensions. And yet, all parties seemed still able to find a friendly sense of decorum at the end of the day.

Until then, that is to say, the contract negotiations with O Donnell collapsed and hell was unleashed.

Before April 25, 2017, just seven months after joining the show, O Donnell revealed that his days View have been numbered. Since she and the network had not been able to sign a new contract, she explained, she would leave the series when her current contract expires at the end of the season. "It just did not work," she said in the show. "And it's a biz show, but it's not sad because I loved it here and I love you guys and I'm not leaving." (ABC wanted to lock her up for another three years, while she was comfortable only to make one for one.)

A few days later, on May 17, the woman who had spent much of her time on the show condemning the policies of the Bush administration, especially with regard to the Iraq war, while that was not the case. she proposed conspiracy theories about 9/11, asked a rhetorical question that she must know how to ignite a barrel of powder.

"655,000 dead Iraqi civilians, who are the terrorists?" she says. "If you were in Iraq and another country, the United States, the richest in the world, was invading your country and killing 655,000 of your citizens, what would you call us?"

The following Monday, O Donnell would be on the defense, embarrassed by the fact that conservative critics had claimed that she had in fact described the troops as "terrorists" with her controversial statement. And when she asked Hasselbeck if she thought O Donnell thought our soldiers were terrorists, the Conservative co-facilitator chose not to respond, but urged O Donnell to clarify what she wanted to say. That Wednesday, when Walters was away, the conversation turned once again to the comments of the beleaguered comedian. She seemed reluctant to engage.

"Because this is how the media are talking about it:" Rosie, the big fat lesbian, Rosie, innocently attacks the pure Christian Elisabeth, "said O Donnell, which prompted Hasselbeck to qualify his assessment" d & # 39, unfair ".

"I just do not understand why it's my fault if people use words you say or phrases suggesting things," Hasselbeck added. "And I gave you the opportunity, two days ago, to clarify the statement that caused you problems on all these things."

"That caused me problems?" O Donnell repeated sarcastically. "As a friend, you've given me the opportunity.This was very kind of you.I asked you if you who really know me do you think I think our troops are terrorists, Elisabeth? "

Hasselbeck initially hesitated to answer before admitting that she did not believe that O Donnell thought his troops were terrorists. But she kept talking about what O Donnell had says, inciting even more back and forth between the two Joy Behar and then guest invited Sherri Shepherd followed, uncomfortable.

When producers switched to shared screen, Hasselbeck asked O Donnell to defend [her] own insinuations "and stung his quarrel with Trump, while O Donnell called it" cowardly "for not answering the question two days ago.

"I'll tell you what's cowardly, ask a rhetorical question that you never answer yourself," Hasselbeck replied. "It's loose."

Somewhere, Behar went through and shouted, "Who's running this show? Let's go to the commercial!"

according to Dance with the stars pro Maksim Chmerkovskiywho was looking in the greenroom alongside others DWTS stars and Alicia Silverstone, all waiting to appear in the following segments of the series, the staff members "went from laughter to crazy laughter by silencing in" what the hell is going on? "

"It was like watching a domestic conflict unfold," he said. People than June. "It was really uncomfortable." Alicia's segment was on [first]and she said to herself, "I do not want to go on now."

This 10-minute match marked the end of O Donnell's first season. She asked to be released from her contract three weeks before its release June 21, the network was happily obliged (despite the fact that the dispute has earned him the best odds of all time). This episode of May 25, 2007 would be his last.

"She was tired of daily fights," her lifelong friend Jackie Ellard told People. "She does not doubt her decision at all – in fact, I'm sure she sleeps better than she has for a long time."

Immediately afterwards, Hasselbeck tried to downplay the bitterness of O Donnell's existence by telling reporters, "We are friends, and when friends differ so much by their opinions, things can only heat up." On May 29, during the first episode without O & # 39; Donnell, Hasselbeck would tell viewers that she and O Donnell were "very communicative". But O Donnell told a different story, explaining on his website that they had exchanged only one email. "I did not talk to her," she wrote, "and I probably will not do it, I've never tried so much to be friends with someone I do not know." I did it with her, but I do not think we went there, or anywhere else. "

Talk with Oprah Winfrey in 2010, O Donnell would explain: "We had some friendship and there is something in the fact that someone differs from you on TV compared to what it is in the cloakroom, it did not really sound to me, I felt right, it was a betrayal of my friendship, and what you saw there was my pain. "

Although, as she said, the fight itself is not the reason she threw the sponge that day. "I did not come back because the director and the producer did a split screen, and they had to prepare that in advance.I knew it because I was the producer of my own TV show. "she added. "I felt that there was a little configuration involved to engage me in this position."

Over the years, Hasselbeck and O & # 39; Donnell seemed to repair the obstacles several times, as of January 2008, when O Donnell had People they had made up after the arrival of the son of his frenemy Taylor Thomas. "He's really cute, I saw him on TV and I sent him a nice present, and [she and Hasselbeck] "And peace prevails." In 2011, they made an appointment for lunch via Twitter. And by the time Walters left the show in May 2014, both were quite cordial. one with the other to appear together, with all the other former co-hosts of the series, in a special episode and even one next to the other!

But two months later, when it was announced that O Donnell would return to the show, the subtleties were over. Hasselbeck, left a year earlier to join Fox and friends, phoned the Fox News morning show while away on vacation to find the woman with whom she shared such an eventful story.

"Here comes to View the woman who spit in the face of our military, at the sound of her own network and really in the face of a person who supported her and held civilized debates during the time she was there – coming back with a bunch of control, ready to resume View with a seat at this table, "she said, before claiming that O Donnell had taken credit for the show's production of the May meeting.

"See you at the reunion show for Barbara, how strange is it when you have a woman who once again insinuated that our own troops are terrorists in Iraq at the time, [who] left the show … while she was still at the end of her contract – to be so comfortable that Barbara's goodbye day shocked me, "she continued. She was walking around with a lot of control and then I had the opportunity to talk to her, Rosie herself, told me, on the set while we were in microphone, that she had produced the meeting show bringing everyone together and that was his idea. Now, do you think that the woman who has left her path will produce Barbara's farewell show? Here is the shocker, it's actually his "Hello Show". "

O Donnell reacted by tweeting an old Hasselbeck clip the View, arguing in the name of controversial interrogation techniques used by the Americans at Guantanamo Bay, while separately claiming that Hasselbeck was hiding in his dressing room on the day of the reunion show. "Until I entered and said hello," the tweet continued. "His answer LET TAKES A SELFIE !!"

Speaking with Parade This September, Hasselbeck will briefly address O Donnell, the publication asking her if she thought her old enemy would be different during her second round on her own field. "I do not know, I've stretched out my arms to Rosie for many years, including the day after everything that happened," she said. "It's something I've talked about over and over again, I have not had an answer, but I wish them luck."

O Donnell's second visit to the co-facilitator would be even shorter than the first. Despite signing an 11-month contract, she will leave the show in February. Speaking to reporters after the announcement, O Donnell attributed this decision to health problems compounded by the problems of his failed marriage with his wife of the time. Michelle Rounds. "[My health] it's a little worse just before the holidays – [my doctor] was a bit worried, "she said, according to The Hollywood journalist. "I can not really fix [my personal life] right now but I can fix [my job]. So I talked to ABC and I told them, and they understood. They have been incredibly supportive and loving. "

However, rumors of coldness between O Donnell and the current moderator Whoopi Goldberg, who had replaced the former when she had left the first time, as well as her inability to function fully with the new production staff would also have played a role in the decision.

Hasselbeck's time to Fox and friends was almost as brief, the conservative commentator having chosen to retire in November 2015 to spend more time with her family, telling viewers that she wanted to give them "the best of me, not the rest of me" . And since they no longer commented on the information on a daily forum, it seemed that this could be the natural conclusion of the disputed link.

Until this week, that's it.

The last excerpt from the author Ramin SetoodehThe coming revelation book, The Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive History of The View, to go on the Internet before its release on April 2, clearly puts the focus on the chapter devoted to the first fiery season of O Donnell. In this paper, O Donnell herself offers a breathtaking perspective on the true nature of her relationship with Hasselbeck. "I loved it," said O Donnell, explaining that she had first tried to guide Hasselbeck by offering advice on how to debate on television. Here is what I said: "I am the eldest. She is the first year. I have a very good player in the freshmen team, but I have to teach him to relax. "

"There was a bit of a crush," continues O Donnell, per Variety. "But not that I want to kiss her.I wanted to support her, raise her, put her back up, as if she was the short star of the first year and that I was the captain of the first year. I was going to see Scottie Pippen, if I was Jordan, was going to give him the ball and let it shoot.But it was in no way sexualized. "She even goes on to say that There were "underlying lesbian nuances on both sides".

For this last day spent together on the set, O Donnell says that his reaction to the disaster was much more than political. "It was as if a lover was separating," says O Donnell about his last day on television with Hasselbeck. "The fight we had, for me as a homosexual woman, looked like this:"You do not like me as much as I like you& # 39; "I took care of you& # 39; "You do not have it& # 39; "How can you do this to me?& # 39; & # 39;I did not do anything. & # 39; "

Hasselbeck has not yet responded to O Donnell's requests publicly. E! News's request for comment has remained unanswered from the time of the press.

The feud between O Donnell and Hasselbeck may be considered the most memorable of Viewhistory of history, they are far from the only two to have turned Hot Topics table into a boxing ring. To relive all the most unforgettable confrontations of the show, read on!