‘The View’ Co-Host Sunny Hostin Relives Watching Her Uncle’s Stabbing at Age 7

When The View co-host Sunny Hostin was 7 years old, she saw her uncle stabbed at a party right in front of her, an experience she opened up about ahead of the premiere of her new show, The Truth About Murder With Sunny Hostin.

“I was 7 years old and was very close to my father’s only sibling,” Hostin told PEOPLE. “He was the fun uncle. But he had his demons: he drank too much, did drugs too much, and was a partier and a womanizer. He was dating someone who he did not know was married,” she continues. “Her husband found out and tried to kill him — and tried to stab him to death right in front of me. It was so tragic and I felt very, very helpless.”

The host’s uncle did survive the stabbing, but ultimately passed away several years later due to complications from the incident, and his assailant was never punished.

“A lot of times, children are left out of the equation, especially in low-income communities,” Hostin said, opening up about how the attack affected her and her family. “You don’t get taken to a therapist. It colored the way our family operated, it changed how my father operated.”

“One of the things that was pretty horrible for me was that my family never talked about it. Ever,” she continued. “We moved out of my neighborhood. I left all of my friends. And then, on top of that, we never spoke about it.”

Hostin previously opened up about the incident while speaking USA TODAY‘s Hispanic Living magazine, recalling watching her relatives pull her uncle into the bathroom after he was stabbed in the stomach.

The stabbing was one factor that pushed Hostin to pursue a law career as a federal prosecutor. She eventually moved into television and is now helming her own show, which she wanted to use to focus on victims and their families.

“Having investigated so many crimes against women as a prosecutor, it was important to me to reach women especially, and Investigation Discovery has the highest female viewership in cable television,” Hostin explained. “We’ll talk about the warning signs of violence against women and show coverage of victims of color.”

The Truth About Murder With Sunny Hostin contains six episodes in which Hostin travels the country to learn more about a series of unsolved homicides and take viewers behind-the-scenes of actually solving the cases by examining evidence with law enforcement and forensic experts.

The show premiered Tuesday, Oct. 22 on Investigation Discovery.

Photo Credit: Getty / Amy Sussman