Co-Hosts of 'The View' Through the Years (and Why They Left the Talk Show)

Barbara Walters

Years on the show: 1997-2014

The prolific journalist Barbara Walters is the mastermind behind The View. She put together the initial panel of women, serving on it herself from 1997 until she retired in 2014.

Walters, then 84, told Variety in 2014, "I don't feel like I'm being pushed out. This was my decision. I should really be depressed, but I'm not. So maybe there's something wrong with me. What's wrong with this woman that she's not depressed about leaving television?"

Meredith Vieira

Years on the show: 1997-2006

Vieira served an important role on The View — that of the moderator — for nearly a decade. She left amicably in 2006 to take over for Katie Couric on the Today show.

Debbie Matenopoulos

Years on the show: 1997-1999

The youngest of the original panelists, Matenopoulos was just 22 years old when she auditioned for The View. She lasted for two seasons before she was let go.

Star Jones

Years on the show: 1997-2006

After nearly a decade, Jones left the show, announcing her departure live on the air and reportedly throwing Walters for a loop.

In an interview with PEOPLE at the time, Jones revealed that her contract was not renewed, saying, "I feel like I was fired."

Joy Behar

Years on the show: 1997-2013, 2015-present

Behar is the longest-running host on the show: She joined the panel in 1997, staying on until 2013, when she took a hiatus to host her own talk show. She returned in 2015 and continues to serve on the panel.

Lisa Ling

Years on the show: 1999-2002

Ling came on the show to replace Matenopoulos, and served on the panel for two years before leaving to pursue a career as a reporter.

Ramin Setoodeh, author of Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of The View, told Salon of Ling's departure, "One of the things I uncovered in my reporting was that Lisa was actually fired from the show. We all thought as viewers Lisa wanted to move on and to do other kinds of reporting, but they felt that the numbers weren't going up with Lisa at the table."

Elisabeth Hasselbeck

Years on the show: 2003-2013

Hasselbeck was the show's first outspoken conservative co-host, joining the panel in 2003 and leaving a decade later in 2013. During that decade, she took part in many a tiff with her co-hosts.

In her book Point of View: A Fresh Look at Work, Faith, and Freedom, Hasselbeck said that she was shocked to find out her contract was not being renewed and was told by an ABC exec that it was because they were "going in a less political direction."

Rosie O'Donnell

Years on the show: 2006, 2014-2015

O'Donnell came onto the show in 2006 and abruptly left months later. The exit came after an on-air verbal sparring match over the Iraq war.

"The day it happened, I was definitely crying," O'Donnell told Variety. "I got my stuff and walked out."

She returned in 2014, but left again at the end of the season, citing personal reasons.

Whoopi Goldberg

Years on the show: 2007-present

Goldberg has been a fixture on the show since 2007, serving as the moderator for the show's "Hot Topics" segment and often acting as the voice of reason.

Sherri Shepherd

Years on the show: 2007-2014

Shepherd was on the show for seven years and was part of the mass exodus that occurred when Walters retired in 2014. At the time, an insider told Variety, "Sherri's ask was astronomical and was not financially possible for the show," though Shepherd's representative told the outlet that her salary "was commensurate with a co-host with her credits who has been at the table for seven years."

Ultimately, ABC did not renew Shepherd's contract.

The actress told ET in 2018 that she would never return to the panel, saying, "The View was one of the best experiences of my life being close to Barbara Walters and Whoopi Goldberg, my idol, and it was the best eight years, but it's like going back to an old boyfriend and sleeping with them again. You look up and go, 'How did we get here?' "

Jenny McCarthy

Years on the show: 2013-2014

McCarthy joined the panel to bring the show in a less political direction after Hasselbeck's departure. She left after just one season, fired on the same day as Shepherd.

In Setoodeh's book, McCarthy said that her year on the show was "miserable." She likened working with Walters to the film Mommie Dearest, saying, "I've never seen a woman yell like that before until I worked with Barbara Walters."

Rosie Perez

Years on the show: 2014-2015

The first ever Latina to co-host, Perez only lasted for one year on the panel, leaving in 2015 to continue her acting career.

Perez issued a tearful farewell on-air and told The Hollywood Reporter she gave her colleagues a heads-up, unlike some of her predecessors.

"I told Nicolle Wallace first. It was a hard call," the actress said. "I waited on Whoopi because I didn't have the nerve to call her. But they were like, 'We get it.' Nicolle was like, 'Oh, we'll be so sad.' And Whoopi was like, 'Is this what you want to do?' And I said, 'Yes.' And she said, 'Then I'm all for it, and I love you. We'll always still be friends.'"

Nicolle Wallace

Years on the show: 2014-2015

Like Perez, Wallace only lasted for one season on The View, telling The Los Angeles Times, "I loved it."

Unfortunately, the network had other plans and Wallace, a former White House Communications Director, was let go.

"Being fired from a TV show where you think you're kind of baring your soul feels personal because it is. It's like being broken up with," Wallace told the Times. "Because I never worked in entertainment I think what I didn't understand is: It really was a casting, and it was a casting they didn't like."

Raven-Symoné

Years on the show: 2015-2016

The former Disney Channel star was on the show for one season before leaving to work on the reboot of That's So Raven.

Symoné's time at the table was not exactly smooth: in November 2015, a Change.org petition circulated calling for her removal. At the time, a spokesperson for ABC said in a statement, "We love Raven. She is confident, genuine and opinionated, all qualities that make her a great addition to the panel."

Candace Cameron Bure

Years on the show: 2015-2016

The Full House alumna, who was a co-host on the show from 2015 to 2016, had been commuting between L.A. and N.Y.C. for filming. In 2016, she announced she was leaving, saying at one point, "I tried to be Superwoman, but I'm going to not try anymore."

She told viewers, "It wasn't an easy decision, but before I started The View, I had already had my commitments to Fuller House and my work with The Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. Because of the success of those, my commitments have become even greater with those shows."

She added that "the commute of going West Coast to East Coast every week for me has been tough on me and hard for my family as well." She added, "I want to make sure that I'm able to spend as much time with my children and invest in all of the projects that I do to the fullest extent."

Michelle Collins

Years on the show: 2015-2016

Comedian Collins lasted one season on the program, and her contract was not renewed in 2016, in part because her time on the show was filled with controversy. She seemingly caused ABC to lose advertisers after a discussion in which she criticized nurses, and later came under fire for mocking Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina's face.

Paula Faris

Years on the show: 2015-2018

Journalist and former Good Morning America Weekend anchor Faris was on the show for three years before leaving in 2018. After her departure, she became a senior national correspondent for ABC News and started the podcast "Journeys of Faith with Paula Faris."

Jedediah Bila

Years on the show: 2016-2017

The conservative host joined the panel in 2016, but left after just one season.

She said on The Jim & Pam Show that she did not leave voluntarily, revealing, "I had signed for a new season I think about a week and a half before. In fact, they released all this really cool merchandise with all of our faces on it." She insisted that she did not know why she was let go, but that there was "no drama," adding, "Everybody looks for drama at The View. I had zero drama … I had no beef."

Sara Haines

Years on the show: 2016-2018, 2020-present

The former ABC News correspondent joined the panel in 2016, leaving in 2018. Her reasons for stepping down were amicable: She was offered a spot on Good Morning America alongside Michael Strahan. Haines returned to the table for 2020's season 24.

Sunny Hostin

Years on the show: 2016-present

Hostin has been on the panel since 2016. The lawyer is also a Senior Legal Correspondent and Analyst for ABC News.

Abby Huntsman

Years on the show: 2018-2020

Huntsman, journalist and daughter of former Utah governor Jon Huntsman Jr., joined The View in 2018. In 2020, she announced that she would be leaving the show in order to serve as a senior advisor to her father, who was running for governor of Utah again.

Meghan McCain

Years on the show: 2017-2021

The daughter of late U.S. Senator John McCain and a Fox News contributor, McCain joined the panel in 2017. During her time on the show, she often represented the conservative point of view and was, as a result, frequently engaged in debates with the other hosts.

She announced her exit from the show on July 1, 2021, telling viewers she would be leaving at the end of that month.

"I am just going to rip the Band-Aid off," she began at the top of the episode. "I am here to tell all of you, my wonderful co-hosts and viewers at home, that this is going to be my last season here at The View."

"I will be here through the end of July to finish out the season with all of you which I am grateful for," she continued. "This was not an easy decision. It took a lot of thought and counsel and prayer, and talking to my family and my close friends, and, you know, look — COVID has changed the world for all of us and it changed the way, at least for me, the way I am looking at life, the way I'm living my life, the way I want my life to look like."

McCain said that her move to Washington D.C. during the COVID-19 pandemic was another reason for her departure: "I came to the D.C. area, which is where my husband and I have always split time, and it's where I grew up splitting time. We have this incredible life here, we're surrounded by my family, his family, by friends, by this incredible support unit."

"I think as any new mom knows, when I think about where I want [new daughter] Liberty to have, you know her first steps and her first words — I just have this really wonderful life here that ultimately, I felt I didn't want to leave," she said.

Alyssa Farrah Griffin & Ana Navarro

Years on the show: 2022

In the summer of 2022, PEOPLE confirmed Griffin and Navarro would be joining the panel to bring the conservative view that's been missing since McCain's departure.