The backstage drama reported in Ramin Setodeh’s new book about “The View”, Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of The View, has resulted in reams of news stories about the various feuds between the show’s hosts, past and present.
One current host, however, is calling BS on reports that she and Meghan McCain “hate each other,” with Sunny Hostin telling People those stories are far from the truth.
For example, Hostin points to Thursday’s discussion about the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, which led to a heated debate between the two.
“Today Meghan and I got into a very passionate discussion about Julian Assange, and it’s passionate because we are,” she told the magazine. “And right after the show we went to [co-host] Abby’s [Huntsman] baby shower. And we were having champagne!”
According to Hostin, any presumed animosity that comes across on the air vanishes once the cameras are turned off.
“We went to the baby shower and we’re having a couple of glasses of champagne, we’re eating Southern comfort food and Meghan turns to me and she shows me one of the headlines: ‘Sunny and Meghan Hate Each Other!’” Hostin added. “And we just really laughed at it. Because we leave it at the table, but for some reason the takeaway is that we hate each other, and it’s the furthest thing from the truth.”
As Hostin explained, “We leave it at the table because we are professionals and we have to do the job the next day,” she added. “So if there were all these hard feelings, then we couldn’t put on a show the next day.”
The way she sees it, the intense interest in the off-air relationships between the stars of “The View” simply underlines what a unique show it is. “Because where do you find a show where five women who are really opinionated and really passionate and lay it all out and can argue and debate and cry and love and share all their flaws, and celebrate each other and are celebrated for it?” she asks. “That’s what makes us special and unusual, and I think that’s why people write about us.”
She added: “We’re passionate — that’s the formula for ‘The View’. They only hire people that are smart and passionate and who are willing to put it out there. I think that’s what they look for in a host. Because you would never survive this table if you took it personally — it wouldn’t work.”
