Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar Left Unaware Meghan McCain Was Leaving ‘The View’

The View will soon see a new face on the show after Meghan McCain surprisingly announced she is leaving the show at the start of Thursday’s episode. None of her co-hosts were aware of her decision before the episode began, sources told The Daily Mail. McCain will remain on the show until the current season ends in July. The remaining co-hosts on the show are Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sara Haines, Sunny Hostin, and Ana Navarro.

Reports that McCain, 36, planned to leave The View surfaced just hours before Thursday’s episode began. At the start, McCain chose to “rip the Band-Aid off” by confirmed she will not be back for another season on The View. “I will be here through the end of July to finish out the season with all of you which I am grateful for,” McCain, the daughter of the late Arizona Sen. John McCain, told viewers. “This was not an easy decision. It took a lot of thought and counsel and prayer, and talking to my family and my close friends, and, you know, look — COVID has changed the world for all of us and it changed the way, at least for me, the way I am looking at life, the way I’m living my life, the way I want my life to look like.”

McCain has chosen to remain in Washington, D.C., where she lives with her husband, The Federalist publisher Ben Domenech, and their daughter Liberty, who was born in September 2020. McCain’s mother, Cindy McCain, is also serving as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture under President Joe Biden. A source told PEOPLE ABC wanted McCain to move back to New York to resume filming in the studio.

“They did want her to come back to the New York studio,” the source explained. “And in D.C., her family is there, her mom’s a new ambassador now and she’ll be in D.C., Ben’s situated there for work and his family — her in-laws — are there. The geography was a big piece of it.” It is not known if McCain plans to continue working with ABC from D.C., but she is publishing an Audible book in September. McCain reportedly has two years left on her View contract.

McCain joined The View in September 2017, following stints with MSNBC and Fox News. She stood out as the conservative voice on the show, often inspiring viral arguments with her co-hosts. Although they had their differences, McCain’s co-stars wished her the best in the future. Goldberg gave a particularly emotional speech, noting how proud McCain’s father was of her.

“It’s been quite wonderful to sit across from you. Your dad was very smart,” Goldberg said. “He wanted you to be here with us because I think he thought we could help toughen you up for what was coming, which was, you know, this wonderful baby you were going to have and his departure. So it was an honor when he said, ‘Please take my child.’”