Sherri Shepherd Returns to 'The View' for Emotional Tribute to Late Show Creator

Sherri Shepherd made a return to The View with an emotional tribute to the show's late creator, Bill Geddie. On Monday, the former host — who now has her own talk show, Sherri — sat down with The View's current panelists to talk about Geddie, who died last week at the age of 68. "He absolutely changed my life because, back in 2007, when he asked me to come on, I was a single mother, just divorced, stand-up comic, didn't know a thing about politics, and somehow he believed that people would relate to me," Shepherd shared.

She went on to recall, "I think it was the first week I sat here, he fought for me to be here – no experience on a talk show – and I think my first week, didn't I say I didn't know if the earth was round or flat, I think? I do know that it is round, it was a brain fart. I think it was the first or second week, I said, 'Bill, oh my God, I do know, I gotta go back on and say it,' and he said, 'No, this is ratings, baby! This is ratings!'" Shepherd also remembered how she would often want to make apologies when she said something incorrect or regrettable, but Geddie wouldn't have it. "He said, 'Sherri, if we apologized for everything we said, this would be called The Apology Show – it's not. It's called The View.'"

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The show's moderator Whoopi Goldberg added, "Our first weeks were the same, and my first week started with me having a conversation with y'all about Mike Vick, and the next thing I knew, they were saying, 'Burn that broad, burn that broad, get her off television!' And every time I've stepped in it, he'd say, 'That's the beauty of the show, everyone has an opinion, and that's why we're doing it.'" She continued, "When I was – I'm trying to find the right way to say it – I was asked to stay off for a week or two, they told me to take a break, and Bill wrote me and said, 'You know this is the nature of this show, that's why we brought you in. We're paying you, we pay you to do this, we pay you to give your opinions. Not everybody's going to like it, but don't ever think that you did something you shouldn't have done, because that's what we do at The View.'"

Later, before introducing a video memorial to Geddie, Goldberg said, "There are people that you're lucky enough to get to know and there are people who pass you by. I met Bill when Barbara and he came to Malibu when they did the 10 Most Fascinating People, and we became friends. So, when they said, 'Listen you want to come do this?' Sure, I need a job. It's nice when people offer you work. I was like, 'Yes, I'll come,' and here I be, and I remain, out of respect for the show and out of respect for the two of them who gave me a shot when no one else would."