Shocking Secrets of Rosie O'Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck's Relationship

When Rosie O'Donnell joined The View in 2006, it had been four years since she'd been a regular fixture on daytime television.

And if fans of her eponymous talk show were tuning in to see the return of the "Queen of Nice," well, they were in for a rude awakening. 

The O'Donnell who joined Barbara Walters' ABC gabfest, entering its 10th season at that point, was a far cry from the playful woman who enjoyed propelling koosh balls into the audience.

In her place was a much more outspoken, political firebrand; one who wasn't afraid to voice her liberal viewpoint and had no qualms about making enemies in the process.

It made her the frequent target of both conservative media outlets and right-wing pundits, and positioned her—for life, it seems—against the panel's requisite conservative voice, Elisabeth Hasselbeck.


Prior to joining The View herself in 2003, Hasselbeck was known for coming in fourth on the second, Australia-set season of Survivor and hosting the Style Network's The Look for Less.

But by the time O'Donnell joined her at the table for Hot Topics as the comedian replaced outgoing moderator Meredith Viera in 2006, she'd established herself as the resident right-winger, staunch in her views and steadfast in her defense of them. And though she'd found herself in brief squabbles from time to time, O'Donnell's arrival meant that she had something of a true adversary on set.

And producers—not to mention viewers—ate it up.

O'Donnell's arrival on the long-running series was a ratings boon, allowing The View to buck the overall downward trend for daytime broadcast TV at the time with a marked viewership rise of 27 percent three months into her tenure. It was clear that her adversarial nature—not just with Hasselbeck, but with Donald Trump, the Bush administration, and the Catholic Church—was ratings gold, and she was encouraged by the show's producers to be as outspoken as she like. It often got her into trouble—the racist way in which she imitated Chinese newscasters rightly earned her scorn—and frequently made her working relationship with not only Hasselbeck, but Walters as well (a social acquaintance of Trump who felt caught in the middle when that particular feud erupted), rife with tension. And yet, all parties always seemed able to return to a sense of friendly decorum at the end of the day.

Until, that is, O'Donnell's contract negotiations fell apart and all hell broke loose.





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