Nicolle Wallace reveals she learned she was fired from The View the way everyone else did: by reading about it in the media.
“They never called me,”; Wallace tells Variety about being axed from the talk show. “The night [Variety“s] second story ran, they summoned my agent and told me they’d like to consider me for a contributor role… They asked me to be on The View for one day a week. I felt like if it had been two days a week or enough time to have more of a presence, I’d consider it. They weren’t interested in negotiating with me. It didn’t make sense for me.”;
According to Wallace, former communications chief to George W. Bush and senior adviser for the McCain-Palin campaign, being fired came as a huge shock. “I loved the job,”; she says. “I had no plans of quitting. I think I thought that I would learn somewhere other than Variety that I’d been fired. It shattered my naivete about television. Listen, it’s all fair. I wasn’t wronged by anybody. But I was surprised to learn in the press about their decision not to bring me back.”;
Related: Rosie Perez Calls “The View’ Exit “Bittersweet’
However, former View host Sherri Shepherd is stepping forward to defend Wallace, telling PEOPLE she’s “disappointed”; to see Wallace leave.
“She’s a good friend of mine. I think you need someone like Nicolle Wallace sitting there who is passionate about politics but knows she has to fight,”; says Shepherd.
“That’s the thing about sitting at the table at The View,”; she added. “It’s so important it’s political season. You need someone at the table who is going to break that political structure and what it means for us, so I am very disappointed.”;
Shepherd, by the way, spent seven seasons on The View before leaving last season, but will reportedly return in the fall as a lead contributor, set to appear in about 50 episodes next season.