‘The View’: 8 Biggest Revelations From ‘Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of The View’

The View has always had large personalities on the set, and a new behind-the-scenes book has already revealed plenty of explosive details about what happens when egos clash.

Variety reporter Ramin Satoodeh’s new book, Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of The View, will not be released until April 2, but excerpts already published show how much it reveals.

The View debuted in 1997 and was created by Barbara Walters, who retired in 2014. The original panel included Walters, Joy Behar, Debbie Matenopoulos, Star Jones and Meredith Vieira. Since then, hosts have come and gone, and it currently features Ana Navarro, Abby Huntsman, Meghan McCain, Sunny Hostin, Whoopi Goldberg and Behar.

Here’s a look at some of the biggest revelations in Satoodeh’s new book.

Joy Behar Made Sure People Knew A Dead Mouse was Found in Star Jones’ Dressing Room

While Star Jones and Joy Behar appeared to get along on television, Satoodeh claims this was not the case towards the end of Jones’ tenure. Two years before Jones left the show in 2006, a janitor allegedly told Behar there was dead mouse found in Jones’ dressing room. After that, Behar began to “detest” Jones and she “gleefully” told her friends on the show about it.

Satoodeh later said on Watch What Happens Live that Jones told him she believed Barbara Walters and Behar leaked stories about her gastric bypass surgery to “ruin her reputation.”

Whoopi Goldberg Was More ‘Mean’ to Rosie O’Donnell ‘than Fox News’

Whoopi Goldberg and Rosie O’Donnell were not the best of friends. O’Donnell’s first tenure ended the season before Goldberg joined, but they overlapped during her second tenure in 2014 and 2015. During that second tenure, Goldberg “shut down” O’Donnell’s plans, O’Donnell told Satoodeh.

“Whoopi Goldberg was as mean as anyone has ever been on television to me, personally — while I was sitting there,” O’Donnell admited in the book. “Worse than Fox News. The worst experience I’ve ever had on live television was interacting with her.”

O’Donnell said it was a “painful experience” in part because so many of her co-hosts “revered” Goldberg.

“She’s a minority, feminist, smart, funny, groundbreaking legend who is black in America,” O’Donnell said. “I’m never going to not have respect for Whoopi Goldberg.”

O’Donnell Clashed With Barbara Walters Over a Trump Parody

In 2006, O’Donnell mocked future President Donald Trump. Walters was on vacation during the infamous segment, so Trump called The View executive producer Bill Geddie to complain. O’Donnell was surprised that Walters did not defend her publicly and “went at Barbara” backstage, according to Satoodeh.

“I definitely yelled,” O’Donnell said. “I said how disappointed I was and how shocked and hurt I was that she wouldn’t stand up for me. I felt very betrayed about her going behind my back and speaking to Donald Trump in Trumpian language. I said something about her daughter, which I should not have said. But I did.”

Geddie said Walters was surprised by the confrontation, especially since it happened in front of other people.

“I can’t tell you everything she said, but it was nasty,” he remembered. “And she does it for about 40 seconds, maybe a minute. I finally said, ‘Enough. You can’t talk to her anymore like this.’ And she turned on me, saying how much she hated me for a variety of reasons.”

O’Donnell Had a Crush on Elisabeth Hasselbeck

While O’Donnell’s clash with Elisabeth Hasselbeck led to her first tenure coming to a surprising end, O’Donnell told Satoodeh she had a crush on Hasselbeck and believed the feeling was mutual.

“Not that I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to support, raise, elevate her, like she was the freshman star shortstop and I was the captain of the team,” she told Satoodeh. “I was going to Scottie Pippen her. If I was Jordan, I was going to give her the ball and let her shoot. But it was in no way sexualized.”

Hasselbeck, who is promoting her own book Point of View: A Fresh Look at Work, Faith and Freedom, was not happy with O’Donnell’s comments.

“I think what she said was reckless, untrue and not only insulting, disturbing, when it comes to how she felt about somebody in the workplace,” Hasselbeck said on The View of all shows. “If you replace what Rosie said and you take her name out and you put in Ruben or Robert, then we would be in a situation where you would see the objectification of a woman in the workplace. And that’s disturbing because where we may be really against that when it comes from a man to a woman, you don’t get a pass because you’re a lesbian objectifying a woman in the workplace. You just don’t.”

O’Donnell Calls Kelly Ripa ‘Mean’ in the Book

O’Donnell also detailed her “weird feud” with Live With Kelly and Ryan host Kelly Ripa. In 2006, Ripa was kissed on the hand by her guest co-host Clay Aiken. “I don’t know where that’s been, honey!” Ripa said, and O’Donell took that comment as “homophobic.”

“If that was a straight man, if that was a cute man, if that was a guy she didn’t question his sexuality, she would’ve said a different thing,” O’Donnell said on The View the next day.

Ripa later called the comments “downright outrageous.”

“I sat down with him and I talked to [Aiken]. There had been a scandal by this time of the army man, or whatever, website he was on. He was inching his way out in the way so many born-again southern Christians have to,” O’Donnell told Satoodeh. “I hugged him. Not only do I feel the twenty-years-older mother thing, I feel the twenty-years-old younger-gay thing. So, I had just held a crying boy and then watched him be gay bashed by Kelly Ripa.”

Aiken later told Satoodeh the day O’Donnell made the comment “the worst day of my life” since he had not come out publicly as a gay man yet.

“I remember feeling like s– that day and totally deflated. But I definitely wasn’t mad at her,” Aiken said.

Sources later told Us Weekly that O’Donnell called Ripa to apologize for the comments.

Sherri Shepherd Said O’Donnell Helped her Get a Pay Raise

Sherri Shepherd joined the show after O’Donnell left the first time, Shepherd told Satoodeh O’Donnell helped her get a higher salary than Hasselbeck.

“Rosie was amazing,” Shepherd said. “She said to me, ‘This is what I made. this is what Joy makes, this is what Elisabeth makes.’ They had offered me a salary that was lower than Elisabeth. Rosie said, ‘You’re an established actress. Go back and counter with this amount!’ They came up.”

Hasselbeck Almost Quit the Show After a Morning-After Pill Discussion

Hasselbeck, the politically conservative voice on the show, argued with her co-hosts in 2006 about the morning-after pill. “I believe that life begins at the moment of conception,” she said, before Walters suddenly stopped her. According to Satoodeh, Hasselbeck complained to Behar.

“What the f–! I don’t even swear. She has me swearing. This woman is driving me nuts,” Hasselbeck is quoted as saying. “I’m not going back. I can’t do the show like this. She just reprimanded me, and she knew exactly what she was doing. Goodbye! I’m off. Read about that in the New York f– Post!”

Hasselbeck did not leave and stayed on the show until 2013.

A Director Compared O’Donnell to Dictator Pol Pot and Called her ‘Medically Insane’

Director Mark Gentile filed several complaints to ABC’s human resources department about O’Donnell and compared her to the Cambodian dictator Pol Pot.

“The best talent she has is making you believe she’s normal,” Gentile said. “She was like Pol Pot in Cambodia.”

Gentile added, “She was going to go through the country and she was going to kill everybody and have it her way.” He also called her “medically insane.”