AFTER being fired from the show nearly a decade ago, Elisabeth Hasselbeck is returning to co-host The View on a temporary basis through August.
The comeback is a shock to fans of the program, who remembered when Hasselbeck, 44, was a host on the show through seasons seven to 16.
She is set to return on August 3 as American political advisor Alyssa Farah Griffin will reportedly soon be named as Meghan McCain’s full-time replacement on ABC’s The View.
“It will be an honor to cohost The View, share our bestselling children’s book, ‘Flashlight Night’, and as always tackle hot topics!” Hasselbeck told PEOPLE.
“Pray for me, y’all!”
After appearing as a cast member in Survivor: The Australian Outback and doing a number of hosting jobs, Hasselbeck landed a spot on The View in 2003.
THE VIEW
She originally appeared as a guest co-host before becoming a permanent member of the panel in November 2003.
However, by March 2013, Hasselbeck wrote in her memoir Point of View, that things “had begun to feel unusual.”
She wrote that one of the program’s producers and an ABC executive visited her office one day, telling her that her contract wasn’t going to be renewed as the show was “going in a less political direction.”
Hasselbeck served as the conservative voice on The View and wrote that she was shocked by the sudden news.
“I could not breathe – literally, could not breathe,” she wrote in the 2019 book.
“I was bent over – shock, asthma and betrayal all stealing my wind.”
While expressing appreciation for her time on the show, Hasselbeck wondered why she was suddenly let go.
“Was there something I could have done differently?” she asked.
“Can I do something differently now? If you would just tell me, I would work on that – and figure out how to get it back, trying to get it all back.”
According to Hasselbeck, she was told at the time that there was nothing she could have done and after the impromptu meeting, she spend about 90 minutes “just sobbing.”
“Feeling a dose of betrayal and a whopper of confusion, I felt like the walls of the building were folding in on me.”
Six years after her firing, Hasselbeck revealed she was invited to return to the show as a co-host, but ultimately turned it down.
She explained that God gave her “the freedom to let go” of that opportunity.
Prior to Hasselbeck’s firing, the mom of three attempted to quit the show during a commercial break, according to Variety.
Variety‘s Ramin Setoodeh wrote about how Hasselbeck had a fiery exchange of words on August 2, 2006, with Barbara Walters and Joy Behar.
Once the show cut to commercial and Behar attempted to calm the situation, Hasselbeck said: “What the f***. I don’t even swear. She has me swearing. This woman is driving me nuts. I’m not going back.
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“I can’t do the show like this. She just reprimanded me, and she knew exactly what she was doing. Good-bye! I’m off. Write about that in the New York F***ing Post!”
Setoodeh said Hasselbeck then hid in her dressing room until the show’s exec producer Bill Geddie urged her to go back on the set.
