Whoopi Goldberg, 66, did not hold back when talking about her former costar, Meghan McCain, 37, during a new interview with Page Six on Oct. 1. “It’s [The View] calmer because nobody wants to be that tired every day,” Whoopi told the outlet at the premiere of her new film, Till. Her sassy comment comes just over a year after Meghan announced her exit from the hit talk show after working alongside Whoopi for four years.
Meghan and Whoopi’s tumultuous relationship is no secret, as they have gotten into many disagreements while co-hosting The View together since Meghan joined in 2017. And in Meghan’s memoir Bad Republican, which was released in April, she revealed that while working on the show, her co-hosts became less friendly. “You can’t imagine how it messes with your self-esteem working in an environment where the worst thing you can be in the world is a Republican during the Trump years,” she wrote in an excerpt. “As the country got worse under Trump, the treatment from Whoopi, Joy [Behar] and some of the staff grew meaner and less forgiving,” the 37-year-old added.
The daughter of the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), also went into details about her rough relationship with Joy in her book. When recalling her return to the show in Jan. 2021, following her maternity leave, Meghan wrote about the salty comment Joy made to her. “You missed me so much when I was on maternity leave. You missed fighting with me,” Meghan said to “ease the tension,” as she wrote in the excerpt. Joy clapped back: “I did not. I did not miss you. Zero.” After Joy’s comment, Meghan said that she felt she had been “slapped.”
Meghan first joined the cast of The View in Oct. 2017, and decided to quit the show after four years. On July 1, 2021, Meghan announced her departure from the show during a live episode for the show. “I am just going to rip the band aid off,” she said. “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.” In her book, she also called the environment at work “toxic” after she returned from her maternity leave. “As I was dealing with my own emotions, I couldn’t also navigate the idea that I was hated and felt hated at a toxic work environment,” Meghan penned. The former Fox News host revealed that during that time she was also dealing with postpartum anxiety.
Whoopi definitely agrees that both of them working together was not a positive experience. “We’ve always had disagreements and stuff, but this one was a little bit different,” the Sister Act star told Page Six. “I think [the show], it’s better. I feel it’s better, but I’m still tired!” She also shared that the drama took place in front of the cameras and not typically backstage. “People felt like they wanted to go home,” she said. “There was no point in fighting. You do what you do and you go home and do what you love to do. And hopefully, everybody is now happier.”