Rosie O’Donnell: Whoopi Goldberg refused to talk about Bill Cosby on ‘The View’
Rosie O’Donnell is getting candid about her tumultuous time on “The View,” saying she didn’t have “any power to make decisions” about the content they covered.
On Tuesday’s episode of “Now What? With Brooke Shields,” the former talk show host revealed she and co-host Whoopi Goldberg, 67, “clashed in ways that I was shocked by.”
“You know, Bill Cosby was a big topic and I wanted to discuss Bill Cosby and Whoopi did not,” the 61-year-old said.
O’Donnell returned to the show in 2014 — after departing in 2007 — around the same time Cosby, 85, was accused by over 60 women of sexual assault.
In 2018, he was convicted of drugging and molesting Andrea Constand in 2004, but was released just three years later due to a technicality.
Reps for the “Sister Act” star did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.
Although they eventually covered Cosby’s case, O’Donnell claimed executive producer Bill Getty also steered them away from covering hard news.
“There would be the Rory Kennedy documentary about Abu Ghraib was out about the torture that we did as a country — we sanctioned it — and Bill Getty wanted us to do the new fall lipstick colors.”
O’Donnell notes that she would never return to the daytime talk show. However, she has been able to find a silver lining from the experience.
“I don’t have any regrets in terms of my career and show business,” she told Shields. “I feel like each thing I learned something, but I know this: It’s not the best use of my talent to get on a show and argue and defend basic principles of humanity and kindness.”
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Despite her unpleasant relationship with Goldberg, O’Donnell was able to “remain friendly” with Barbara Walters — who died on Dec. 30, 2022, at the age of 93 — after they made amends following their years-long feud.
“When she died … you know, Barbara and I got along,” she explained. “I forgave her because she was older and she did the best that she could with what she had to work with, but it’s nothing I would want to do again.”
Although she wasn’t able to attend Walters’ tribute episode on “The View,” the “Sleepless in Seattle” star penned an emotional message to the iconic journalist on Instagram.
“I was lucky enough to be in her orbit for a good many years and we saw a lot of Broadway shows together … May she rest in peace and may everyone remember just what barriers she broke down for women. She really did. She was the first and will always be remembered.”
