Comedian and longtime The View co-host Joy Behar told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live that the show’s late creator Barbara Walters “regretted” firing her on two occasions, and once asked Behar during a commercial break to tell viewers she had changed her mind.
“She fired me twice actually,” Behar, 82, said on the SiriusXM program, adding that one of the departures “had something to do with a Democrat and a Republican.” Behar recalled telling Walters, “Barbara, you just fired me. How am I supposed to change my mind?”
Behar was one of the original panelists when The View launched in 1997. She left the show in 2013 and returned in 2015. On WWHL, she said the network did more than simply invite her back. “They didn’t just bring me back, they begged me. Let’s be clear,” she said, prompting Cohen to respond, “Yes, they did. … They broke the bank to get you back.”
Behar has previously addressed those departures. In a 2017 interview with People, she said leaving was not “100 percent [her] choice,” asserting, “Somebody wanted me gone.” In a 2022 Time magazine interview she said she was “glad to get fired,” adding that she had been “sick of the show at that point for some reason.”
Speaking to Page Six in June, Behar said one of her firings stemmed from revealing a casting decision, specifically that Rosie O’Donnell was joining the show. She said Walters was furious but “rehired [her] the same day.” Behar said she had “no idea” what led to the second firing.
Walters, who died in 2022 at age 93, created The View and served as its guiding force for years. The daytime talk show has gone through numerous panel changes since its 1997 debut; the series is in its 29th season with Behar among the current co-hosts, alongside Whoopi Goldberg, Sara Haines, Sunny Hostin, Ana Navarro and Alyssa Farah Griffin.
Behar’s remarks to Cohen add personal detail to a long-running public narrative about turnover and creative clashes on The View. The series has periodically reshaped its panel and tone in response to changing audiences and network decisions. Behar’s account underscores how on-air talk shows can involve abrupt personnel moves and quick reversals.
Her comments also echo past public accounts in which both producers and hosts have described behind-the-scenes disagreements and the commercial pressures that influence casting. Behar’s return in 2015 was widely reported at the time as part of a broader effort to stabilize the show’s lineup.
During the WWHL segment, Behar did not offer new documentation of the specific network conversations that led to her firings, and The View and ABC did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Her recollections align with earlier interviews in which she described both irritation with the show’s direction and relief at the opportunity to step away, followed by a later decision to resume the co-host role.
The View continues to draw attention for its rotating cast and political debates, and Behar remains one of the program’s most recognizable voices. Her recent anecdotes about Walters add to public memory of the show’s early years and its founder’s hands-on management style.