0:00

I'm Brian Tedde, executive producer of The View,

0:02

and this is our special podcast series Behind

0:05

the Table.

0:12

On this series, The View co-hosts are going to take

0:14

a seat at the table with me every day

0:17

to give you a deeper dive behind the scenes of America's

0:19

number one daytime talk show. You'll

0:21

hear personal stories from the co-hosts, some

0:24

of the things that didn't make air, their reactions

0:26

to the most talked about interviews, and sometimes

0:29

our guests will stick around to continue their conversations

0:31

from the show. The podcast will also

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feature our View crew, the people who work

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behind the scenes and help create the headline-making

0:38

moments that have firmly cemented The View in pop culture

0:41

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0:42

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0:58

I am very excited today because I am

1:00

here with Alyssa Farrah Griffin, and

1:02

we are talking about her first year

1:05

on The View. We are back with season two, and

1:07

she made it through the first year.

1:09

Barely made it, but I'm

1:11

here. Not everybody does. Not everybody does.

1:13

But I wanted to just talk about it because the process

1:15

of you becoming a co-host was kind of different.

1:18

We took a whole year of

1:20

actual open auditions, and

1:22

I was curious what that was like for you. Was

1:24

it stressful? Tell me about it a little bit.

1:26

Well, okay. First and foremost, I

1:28

loved my first year. I mean, I can't believe

1:30

that the year's already over. It flew by.

1:33

I came into this with a million trepidations

1:36

and concerns and fears. I mean,

1:38

it's an iconic show. We have so

1:41

many loyal viewers, and I have

1:43

felt embraced. I felt embraced by the table

1:45

and, like, most importantly, our team. A lot of people

1:47

don't get to see everyone who's behind the scenes. So it's

1:50

been really cool. But man, the audition

1:52

process. I

1:54

had a weird approach to it. So yeah, there were so many incredible

1:57

women. Every one of them that you guys auditioned, I

1:59

thought was amazing. thought would have been fantastic

2:01

honestly. And I

2:04

watched, this is embarrassing

2:06

to admit, I watched the first time everyone

2:08

went on to guest host. I think at

2:10

least all of them. And then after that I stopped watching

2:13

because what I realized is you'll get in your

2:15

head if you're trying to be someone else or like they did

2:17

that really well, I need to be more like that. The

2:20

best advice that I'd gotten from prior

2:22

hosts, long time viewers of the show too is just

2:25

be your authentic self. There's no

2:27

rule on how to be, there's no one

2:29

rule of how to be a view co-host. Everyone

2:31

brings their own self to the table. So

2:34

I mean I would come on,

2:36

I would feel like

2:38

I was excited about my performance,

2:40

I felt like I found myself getting a little more

2:42

comfortable with the table every time.

2:45

But then you go home and it's a, you know, you

2:47

don't know. I never, I did not know I was going

2:49

to get the job until the very end

2:51

of the season. So you'd get excited

2:54

about the possibility but I tried to even stop my mind

2:56

from going there of like you might end up being

2:58

an actual view co-host.

3:01

It was a wild period. And I do

3:03

want to mention, you've heard this story

3:05

and I kind of briefly shared it on air

3:08

but I think our listeners would be interested is

3:11

the other audition I had the hardest

3:13

time with was Stephanie Grisham. So we

3:15

had worked together in the White House and

3:17

we were just honest to God nemesis,

3:19

nemesis. We

3:22

didn't get along a lot, I think

3:24

probably had to do with outside factors

3:26

and people pitting us against each other. But

3:28

she got in my head because there was this already

3:31

existing sort of rivalry and I would

3:33

feel like I did such a good job on the

3:35

show and then I'd see, oh, she's coming on the next day. And

3:37

it'd be so defeating. Like you're a masochist

3:40

in how you do this to the poor women. But

3:42

what people don't, most people don't know is

3:45

unrelated to the show in the middle of the kind

3:47

of audition season. She and I connected

3:50

at CNN and we hashed out

3:52

all our issues.

3:53

And she actually approached

3:56

it and kind of I

3:57

think had put a lot of thought into it and expressed that. as

4:00

she had watched me, she felt like maybe the way

4:02

we felt about each other wasn't fair and we'd

4:05

let outside factors influence us. And

4:07

she's become one of my dear friends and somebody

4:09

who's like an incredible support system to me. She

4:11

was proud of me and congratulated me when I got the

4:13

job, which I think shows just a ton of character and

4:16

not something you see a lot in this industry. And

4:18

I'm very proud of her. She started an animal sanctuary

4:20

in Kansas and is doing what she loves. So it's

4:22

like, that was like this beautiful kind of icing

4:24

on the cake of I think what could have been like a

4:27

chaotic, drama filled audition

4:29

season. That's

4:30

great. Now, I love that you guys are close now

4:32

and we really enjoyed having her too. It

4:34

does feel a little dramatic to have everybody

4:37

back and kind of whittled down the way we did it. But I

4:39

think it's

4:39

like survivor after being well, we've had

4:41

co-hosts that were from survivor. But after seeing

4:44

being here for a year, I bet you get it a little

4:46

bit more now because it's so important.

4:49

You know, we've added co-hosts in different ways

4:51

quickly, not quickly, things like that. And it was

4:53

really important to everyone involved, me,

4:56

the hosts, the back of the team, that we found

4:58

someone that had the right chemistry over

5:00

time, that we really got to know these people

5:02

and know that they could do because the views such a

5:05

different show. We talk about

5:07

different things every segment. We could be talking about

5:09

relationships, then we're talking about Trump

5:11

indictments. We could be talking about someone

5:13

that is multifaceted. One of the things that I really enjoyed

5:15

seeing in you, I knew you were solid

5:18

on the hot topics and the news and the politics, but

5:20

getting to see the part of you that is really

5:22

excited about reality TV or really

5:24

diving deep on relationships and talking about

5:28

the lighter stuff, which I thought you could

5:30

do, but you really came into your own this year as

5:32

a talk show host. Thank

5:32

you. Which is a lot of fun. I

5:34

think that was what I was most intimidated by coming

5:37

onto it because it's like none of my background,

5:39

the Department of Defense or the White House. But I

5:41

wouldn't even probably admit that I watched some of the shows

5:43

I do just to be taken more seriously. So I had to

5:45

like I had to get myself comfortable

5:48

with showing that side of me. And I actually

5:50

remember when for folks at home,

5:53

like Brian and I did a you'll remember we

5:55

did this like zoom maybe 15 minute

5:58

interview that was basically deciding if you're going to do that. you're gonna

6:00

have me as one of the many women to guest

6:02

host. And I was so frickin' nervous for that. And

6:04

I remember being most nervous to try trying to convince

6:06

you that I knew pop culture. And

6:09

now as we're just doing the show naturally, I

6:11

was like, wait, I actually watch a lot of these shows

6:13

and actually fall way more celebrity gossip than I realize.

6:16

So I think it's actually always been there. It was just something I

6:18

put in the back of my brain and never talked about. Honestly,

6:22

I can't tell you how often we're in the Hot Topics

6:24

meeting, more toward the end of the week usually, that

6:26

I'm like, can we just do all like fun topics today?

6:29

I'm like, screw politics. You

6:32

mentioned that you had trepidations also. What were

6:35

they based around? Just the idea

6:37

of

6:38

the seat or what exactly was it? A

6:41

lot of things. So this

6:44

show is iconic, but it's also, it's

6:46

seen as high stakes. That's kind of the,

6:49

you're going on talking about the most serious things happening

6:51

in our country. And then you're also talking about much

6:53

more light things. And

6:56

I had big fears over how

6:59

I would be received by the rest of the table and

7:01

by the audience. And to your point about chemistry,

7:04

I felt

7:04

more and more like I can do this the more times

7:07

I guest hosted. And I saw the other sides

7:09

of the other co-hosts who might fundamentally

7:12

disagree with me on politics, but

7:14

could see me and see me in

7:16

a different facet and talking about different things. So

7:20

how I would be accepted by the audience

7:22

and the co-host was part of it. And it's also

7:24

just, I mean, we have so many viewers.

7:29

There are so many people watching at any given moment

7:33

and that is a heavyweight to wear.

7:35

And then finally the seat. You are, it's

7:37

the most, it's I think in some ways

7:39

the most unique seat at the table in that you

7:42

are the Republican there arguing

7:44

five days a week trying to represent the

7:46

Republican viewpoint. And what I

7:49

realized after the end of the audition series,

7:52

and I wanna mention, I've talked to a

7:54

bunch of the former co-hosts

7:56

and I love talking to them and kind of

7:58

something that

7:59

they all. all

8:00

thematically shared with me was it's

8:03

your seat. It's not you're not Twitter conservative

8:05

seat. You're not, you know, Republicans

8:08

in Pennsylvania's Republican

8:10

seat. That's Alyssa Farris Republican seat.

8:12

People, the audience wants that authenticity

8:14

and they want to know who we are. So when I

8:16

stopped trying to like carry the weight of like I

8:19

am the sole voice of the Republican party at this table

8:21

and more just authentically saying what I believe, I

8:23

actually felt very liberated and that's

8:26

when I think I started

8:26

growing into the role. Who have you talked to that gave you

8:28

the best advice of the former host?

8:30

I don't want to say the best among them. I think

8:33

Abby Huntsman's been a big support system. She's

8:35

just such a kind and decent person. And

8:37

I think when I watched Abby on

8:40

the show, she was probably more, I would have

8:42

seen her as more moderate than me. But as I've, you

8:44

know, come into my own on the show, I think we're pretty

8:47

ideologically similar and she

8:49

just has a grace about her that I've always

8:51

hoped to emulate, which is like you can disagree

8:53

without being disagreeable. I

8:56

keep in touch with Debbie who I think is just like,

8:59

I just love hearing her perspective because

9:01

she was a different universe of the view. Like her

9:03

experience is so different than mine, but

9:06

the common theme among all of them is authenticity.

9:09

Yeah, you know, it's funny, Lisa Ling guest hosted

9:11

a bunch of times last season and she

9:13

brought something up to me which I had never really thought about, but

9:16

she said, you know, it was hard for her being the young

9:18

one because before there was a Republican

9:20

seat, there was the young seat because the show's always

9:22

been generational. And Lisa said the hardest

9:24

thing she thinks for everybody now is

9:26

that somehow along the way, the conservative

9:29

seat also became the young generation

9:31

seat. So you actually have, you're speaking

9:33

to people that have lived long lives and feel very strong

9:36

about what they're saying and also might

9:38

be politically, ideologically different than you

9:40

too. So it's almost a double hard.

9:43

That's a really good point. No, because I'm the youngest

9:45

at the table and I'm the only person

9:47

five days a week that's a Republican at the table. So it's kind of

9:49

twofold. It's happened maybe once

9:51

or twice that Joy brings up Dan Coyle to make a point.

9:54

And I'm like, I was only alive for two years of

9:56

his vice presidency. I don't have strong

9:58

thoughts or background on this.

9:59

Good move, not bringing that up. But yeah,

10:02

no, I think that's, it's an interesting

10:04

part of it too. It's a tough seat, you've done a

10:06

great job with it. The important thing for

10:09

us, and the thing that was really most important

10:11

to me was having someone in that seat that could

10:13

disagree, be strong, make

10:16

the tough arguments,

10:18

and then also

10:19

recover if things got

10:21

awkward or heated at the table, and the next segment,

10:23

come back and have fun and move

10:25

on. And that's what

10:27

all of you have been able to do in a terrific way, and

10:29

I think it's been great.

10:29

You and Robin have both shared with me

10:32

the idea of leaving it at the table, which I think is really important,

10:34

because yeah, we do have to do these hard pivots to different

10:36

segments, but what I try to think

10:38

about is think about it like a dinner,

10:41

lunch or party with your girlfriends, where my

10:43

girlfriends have different political views, and we sometimes

10:46

delve into heavy issues, but we

10:48

don't turn into, with your respect, real

10:50

housewives, where we're gonna be screaming at each other and we're gonna be pulling

10:52

each other's hair, we're gonna end the conversation

10:55

and move to the next thing, and I think that's kinda

10:57

like real life. I think it's good

10:59

to see

10:59

that we can do that.

11:00

My favorite story is the story

11:03

of when you got the job and you found out you got the

11:05

job. Please tell us that.

11:06

Okay, this I

11:08

think speaks to the fact that I can keep a secret.

11:11

So I got the

11:14

job, I was in the airport, it was in like

11:16

a Delta lounge, I had just done

11:18

a call with one of our executives where I

11:20

was convinced I was getting the job when he asked to talk

11:22

to me, and then I didn't at the end, it was kind of

11:24

like, okay, good talk, and so then I was

11:26

like, oh, okay, and it was like bummed but

11:28

not, whatever, we weren't putting a period

11:31

on it, and then you reached out and

11:34

you told me you're going to be a co-host

11:36

of The View, and I mean, I cried, I

11:38

laughed, I hugged my husband, I was so excited,

11:40

and I'm also in an airport trying

11:42

to make sure no one hears this, and you said,

11:45

don't tell anyone, and I take that super

11:47

seriously, and again, I consider this

11:49

super high stakes TV, I mean, this is an

11:52

iconic show, so I didn't even

11:54

tell my agent. It had been like working

11:56

behind the scenes and coaching me through this for

11:59

the last year.

11:59

And it was later that night that

12:02

I'm at dinner celebrating with my husband

12:04

that she calls me like cracking up But also

12:06

you didn't tell me you got the view But

12:10

hey, I can be trusted with a secret. She heard

12:12

from us before you heard from you

12:13

I was very I like that very

12:15

much. I said, you know what? This is this made me feel really

12:18

good about the decision I don't by the way I also love

12:20

how afraid of you I was until I've gotten to

12:22

know you just because I'm like he's the captain

12:24

of this ship Like it's Brian Tedda. You've

12:26

got to like take things really seriously with

12:28

him I liked

12:28

it better when you were afraid of me. No, you were

12:30

the only one All right, so

12:33

that that's all good stuff. So now being here

12:35

a year

12:36

what has been

12:38

The most surprising

12:40

thing would you say? Most

12:43

surprising So,

12:46

I mean there's a lot but I'd say

12:48

So guests we get a list

12:51

celebrities incredible amazing

12:53

stars and Hathaway Reese Witherspoon

12:57

We've had you know, the Jimmy Fallon's of

12:59

the world I am surprised

13:01

that when we have some of the finest

13:03

actors come on They're sometimes nervous

13:07

and it's really weird to me because I'm like I think of

13:09

them in all these amazing roles that they've had But

13:11

you realize it's a very different skill to

13:13

be a great actor and then

13:15

to go in front of a live studio Audience live

13:17

on TV and our tables unpredictable. That's

13:20

the to me the coolest thing about the view You

13:22

don't know what you're gonna get asked like you were gonna get asked

13:24

about politics You're gonna get you know

13:26

asked to weigh in on cultural issues and we're always

13:28

fair and give people, you know A chance to say their

13:30

truth, but I've been really surprised

13:32

by that. I'm like, oh my gosh we just made that person nervous

13:35

and also just like how the

13:38

kind of

13:39

Normal humans a lot of these big celebrities

13:41

are when you actually meet them with a few exceptions But

13:43

for the most part it's like oh, they're just really

13:46

attractive talented normal human beings

13:48

Considering

13:48

the rooms you've been in it's fun that you get excited

13:50

by eating and Hathaway, but I like that too.

13:52

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14:51

Now, how did people in

14:53

the Republican Party react when you told them you got

14:55

the job when it came out? Was that a weird thing?

14:57

Was it?

14:58

So this is what's funny. When

15:00

the seat became available and there was like

15:02

announcer was going to be a search, I heard from everyone

15:05

like I hope you go put your name in for

15:07

I hope you try for it. And everyone was super

15:10

like supportive. And then when I said I was going to take it,

15:12

everyone was like, we're

15:13

really proud of you. But like, be careful.

15:15

Good luck. There was like the again, this trepidation.

15:17

I think it's a little bit of it

15:20

might look scarier from the outside, if

15:22

that makes sense. I think

15:25

in the the the

15:27

advice that I got from from friends, from

15:29

former colleagues, from our bosses was,

15:33

you know, don't shy away from sharing the

15:35

truth as you know it. And just remember that even

15:37

if

15:38

even if you're not, you know, getting applause

15:40

or changing the hearts and minds of the table, because I've never set

15:42

out to do that. Like Joy Behar has been a

15:45

left wing liberal my entire life. No one's

15:47

trying to change her mind. She's not trying to change mine is

15:49

just be the voice of the of half

15:52

of America that, you know, may not

15:55

share those viewpoints, but do it in a way that's respectful.

15:57

People were it was really funny. like

16:00

this flip of everyone wanted me to do it and then they're like

16:02

oh good luck once I got it but

16:04

I found like I felt a lot of support

16:06

since we've been in I still I tell you like

16:08

I talked to a number of sitting governors

16:11

senators congressmen pretty regularly

16:13

and you I'm always

16:15

stunned by who watches the view well

16:17

I always laugh because you know I'll look

16:20

at conservative media a lot and sometimes people

16:22

take shots at the show or who can watch

16:24

that show or things like that and then I look

16:26

down at my notes and like oh yeah they wanted to audition

16:29

I mean everybody called

16:31

everybody reached out everybody wanted to have dinner

16:34

and so it always chuckles when

16:37

people told me it was their life's ambition to be on

16:39

a coast of the view or then ripping

16:41

into it the next day it's

16:42

also everyone everyone's

16:44

a critic on like on the outside and I've

16:47

tried to give

16:48

grace because we everyone on television has

16:50

stepped in it like it's just a fact I have

16:52

said stupid things I'm gonna get things wrong before and

16:54

I hold myself to the standard of I'm gonna correct it

16:56

but someone who had guessed hosted years

16:58

ago a conservative you

17:01

know talking head or whatever she had kind

17:03

of a big scandal when she

17:05

admitted something on air a policy viewpoint that

17:08

the conservative world just turned on her like

17:10

her career looked like it was over and I

17:12

felt for her and I was actually well I didn't

17:14

agree with her take I thought that she held

17:17

her own it was somebody that

17:18

I really respected how she conducted herself I sent her a long

17:20

message just support you're gonna have a long

17:22

career in this industry like I'm in

17:25

your corner and you know anything I could do to help okay

17:28

fast forward a few years I'm in the chair

17:30

and just coming after

17:32

me just not even not a shred of remembering

17:35

that that message was sent or how hard

17:37

it is in that moment when you've got all these

17:40

icons around you who might like nudge you

17:42

a certain direction but that's

17:44

life and you can't let it get to you exactly

17:45

no I agree speaking of those who

17:47

watch the show and pretend they don't you're a former boss

17:50

the president United States has Donald

17:53

Trump has kind of come

17:55

for you a lot lately

17:58

how has that been to deal with it and

17:59

that's got to be difficult.

18:02

It is. It definitely gets easier every

18:04

time. I think the first time that he put out

18:06

a statement about me, I was like, I was rightfully rattled.

18:09

I mean, I still have to like stop and be like,

18:11

the former commander in chief took

18:13

the time to write a statement about me

18:15

attacking me calling me like never had

18:17

on my life bucket list being called like a clown or backbencher

18:20

by the former president. But I

18:23

think I might have like abnormally thick skin. It's,

18:26

I think it speaks to the fact that what

18:29

I am saying is breaking through about

18:32

just his unfitness and his character

18:35

and what I saw firsthand in the

18:37

White House in the Oval Office. I

18:39

never claimed to have been somebody who was like super

18:41

close with Trump personally, but I was in

18:44

countless Oval Office meetings, you

18:46

know, Air Force One meetings on Marine, one

18:48

with him, briefing him and advising

18:50

him and in critical moments in our history and just

18:53

like,

18:53

I wouldn't feel right not telling

18:56

the public what I saw because most

18:58

people won't have that experience with him. And what I

19:00

saw was scary and I'm open about that. And

19:02

luckily, we're in a political season where people

19:05

have other options and I want to keep

19:07

telling that story. But I also think the fact

19:09

that he comes after me so much is

19:11

because I'm on the show. He came on many

19:13

times back in the day. He loved

19:17

Barbara. He had like just this

19:19

respect and put her on rightfully on a

19:21

pedestal. But I think that this

19:23

show is powerful, outspoken

19:26

women who challenge him. And also there's like

19:28

a levity to our show where we kind of

19:29

mock him. I think that really gets

19:32

to him. I think the view gets under his skin

19:34

in a way that few other programs

19:36

do. One of the things you said to me when

19:38

you were auditioning that really stuck with me as to

19:40

why it was important to you to have these conversations

19:43

was because you're coming

19:45

at this from a perspective of somebody who

19:48

did think that

19:49

Donald Trump could be something interesting, that we

19:51

needed someone different. And then you got in there, as

19:53

you said, for a minute, you drank the Kool-Aid. And

19:55

then you got close and realized, oh no, this

19:58

isn't what people think it is.

19:59

realize. So I think there's no one better equipped

20:02

to speak to somebody who's under

20:04

that spell now.

20:05

I thank you. And

20:07

that's that's what I feel really strongly about.

20:10

I am about as like

20:12

conservative as you're going to find. My viewpoints

20:15

are I've pretty consistently throughout my

20:17

career had very strong ideological

20:19

viewpoints. I've continued

20:21

to champion like the same issues I've cared about. And

20:24

when Trump came around, I had I had my

20:26

concerns with him. But there was something about like he's

20:28

going to shake up what feels broken in D.C. and

20:31

he's going to you know sometimes the

20:33

outsider is the answer. And

20:35

in and there are policies of

20:37

his that I can and have defended.

20:39

But there's that element of character

20:42

which I've said on the show before that

20:44

matters to me as much as anything going forward and

20:46

any elected official down to like dog

20:48

walker and mayor that I vote for is

20:51

do I think they have the character to be in office. And

20:54

and I also feel like people don't like in

20:56

this moment we are so close to

20:58

doing that whole experiment again of being like

21:00

what if I mean he may be the Republican

21:02

nominee. He very likely will. And he

21:05

could beat Joe Biden. That's not an impossibility.

21:07

Statistically polling could show

21:09

that it is. And that's kind of uncharted

21:12

territory for us. And I'm I'm really

21:14

feel this passion to motivate the

21:17

actual core Republican Party

21:19

that I've believed in and been a member of my whole life.

21:21

And this is an incredible platform to do that and

21:23

like remind people we don't need to

21:25

be lumped in with this person who is

21:28

just so unfit.

21:29

Yeah. No that makes a lot of sense to me. It's

21:32

been obviously a topic during your first

21:34

year on the show often that you

21:36

worked there that you worked for him and it's

21:38

something you've had to defend or explain over

21:40

and over again. Is that been a frustrating thing. Do you feel

21:42

like you've gotten it out there now and

21:44

you feel like you've put a button on it or

21:46

do you feel like it's fair game. What do you think.

21:49

I think I definitely think it's fair game.

21:52

I think TV one of the challenges

21:54

is it's short periods of time. Oh that's one of the

21:56

most surprising things about this show. I

21:58

mean say it's a long.

21:59

segment, I'm going to get 90 seconds to

22:02

speak and I can't fully explain

22:04

my

22:04

experience, my rationale, and the

22:07

reason I made decisions to work for Donald Trump in that

22:09

amount of time. I think the more that I've

22:11

answered that question I've actually offered like a more

22:13

full perspective probably to the audience and to

22:15

my co-hosts, I

22:17

wish like where

22:19

I given a full hour to just kind of talk

22:21

it through, you know, I think there would be a lot more

22:24

that I could share but I

22:26

don't feel like it's unfair to ask it

22:28

and I'm

22:29

comfortable enough in my decisions

22:32

to talk about why I did decide

22:34

to work for him. And trust me, here's the thing that

22:36

people don't realize, I'm my own harshest critic.

22:39

Anything that any name someone's gonna call me,

22:41

any attack they're gonna or even if it's a subtle

22:43

thing that they're saying, I've with

22:46

my eyes closed at night called myself those names

22:48

and then reminded myself that's not true. I

22:50

have told the truth, I have done everything I can

22:52

to try to hold him accountable and to try to

22:54

speak truth to the public and I'm comfortable with

22:56

that.

22:57

Changing gears, let's talk about some of

22:59

the lighter stuff we've done in the last year. So I mean

23:01

when you're a spokesperson for the Defense

23:04

Department, do you feel like, I

23:06

mean the idea that you're gonna be dressing up for Halloween on

23:09

the view a year or two later is a

23:11

whole different world. Have you enjoyed that stuff? Is

23:13

it, how do you approach it?

23:15

I mean it literally is like

23:17

my two worlds are so different, it's so

23:20

funny to even think of, I mean just a couple years

23:22

ago I was on a C-17 flying

23:24

Afghanistan like strapped to the side of a plane for 17

23:27

hours doing like mid-air refueling

23:29

and doing a you know covert trip

23:31

there and now I'm like dressed as Carrie Bradshaw

23:34

on the streets of New York.

23:37

It has been, it's

23:38

one of those things that you just have to go with

23:40

it. Like don't ask questions, it's worked for some

23:42

reason, you can't like be afraid to do

23:45

it because it actually looks, things that

23:47

you're uncomfortable with on television,

23:49

it'll look more awkward if you show that you're

23:51

uncomfortable and if you're like being resistant

23:53

you just got to go for it

23:55

and be

23:56

in on the joke with yourself I think.

23:58

Yeah you gotta be comfortable in your own skin. But I mean Trust

24:00

me, there are days that I'm like, wow, this

24:02

is very different than the world that I thought I was

24:04

gonna be in. You're singing back up to Darling Love,

24:07

and yeah. Which, by the way, that might have

24:09

been my highlight. Christmas at The View is probably

24:11

the highlight of the year. It was so much fun.

24:14

Yeah,

24:14

that's one of my favorite things too. All

24:17

the holidays are great. So we talk

24:19

so much now about pop culture, sex and relationships.

24:22

What's that been like?

24:24

We had

24:26

Nicole Wallace on kinda early, and I think

24:28

it was when I was officially a co-host, I'm

24:31

a big fan of hers, and she made

24:33

the joke that she's like, yeah, The View forced me to have

24:35

to talk about sex and my

24:37

vagina, and now that's part of,

24:39

that is part of politics. So she's like, so

24:41

weirdly, it's prepped me for my role at MSNBC.

24:44

And that's The View, I mean, it's real

24:47

life. It's the conversations people are actually having.

24:49

And there have been a few days where we

24:52

do have those conversations. I feel uncomfortable

24:54

and think about, oh no, what are the Twitter trolls

24:56

gonna say? And then I'm like, I'm a 34 year old woman. I

25:00

have these exact same conversations with my girlfriends.

25:02

These people who are trolling me have them unless they have

25:04

really boring lives, and I need to just tune

25:07

it out because that's life. That's what people wanna

25:09

know. It's what they're reading about. It's what they're talking

25:11

about.

25:11

Have you ever walked away feeling like you overshared?

25:14

Once or twice, and Whoopi has been, shout

25:17

out to Whoopi, she's the mother

25:19

of the show, I think. I think she looks out for everyone

25:21

and having, being such a huge

25:24

star, she's very cautious of people

25:26

who are

25:27

newer to the public. I, you know, putting

25:29

themselves out there more than they'd want to, because she sees

25:31

what it's like. Whoopi's life is, it's

25:34

not normal the way anyone else's is because she's so

25:36

famous. And she has said to me,

25:38

you know, share what you're comfortable, you don't need

25:40

to put it all out there. And she reminds

25:42

me, and there have been times where like,

25:44

you know, she'll just say, like, peel it back, or

25:46

pull it back if you feel like you're

25:48

saying too much, don't feel pressure to. And by the way, I've never

25:50

felt pressure to, but it's a good reminder. You

25:53

know, mostly my husband bears the brunt of it, because I

25:55

do have, I have family who said they'd

25:57

prefer to not be talked about on the show.

25:59

And my husband's like, oh don't

26:02

worry, you can always talk about me. So he's the one who always

26:04

is gonna get stories thrown in. That's

26:05

great. No, I think the audience likes it because it gives it

26:07

another bit of a glimpse into who

26:09

you are as a person. Has being a host

26:12

changed you at all, do you think?

26:14

I think so. I think

26:16

it's been a growing experience. I think I

26:19

am, actually quite a bit, I am less

26:22

dogmatic in viewpoints. Not to say

26:24

that I've in any way changed my

26:26

beliefs, but I'm more understanding

26:28

and wanna understand other people's viewpoints better.

26:31

There are a lot of conversations we have at the table

26:33

that I've always peripherally

26:36

been part of, but race is a major theme

26:38

on our show. And I think it's really important that it is.

26:40

And I think hearing the perspective of the

26:43

other women has made me more

26:45

in tuned to issues around race and more,

26:47

I think, sensitive and

26:50

sympathetic to some

26:52

of what you see in our country in a way that

26:54

just wasn't always a front of mind issue to

26:56

me. And I really value

26:58

those conversations because I think it's made me a more

27:01

multifaceted person.

27:03

Yeah, I mean, just being in the Hot Topics room, you're just exposed

27:06

to different perspectives, even the stuff we don't end up talking

27:08

about on the show. Totally, yeah. A lot of it is the

27:10

conversations that aren't even necessarily on the airwaves

27:13

that our Hot Topics kinda generate.

27:15

Speaking of the Hot Topics meeting, was

27:17

that a revelation to you? What do you think of that? It's

27:20

a revelation. I think we need the view late

27:22

night where it's actually what

27:24

we talk about in preparation. The bleeps will

27:26

be gone, and the jokes that can't

27:29

make it to air can be made. That's,

27:31

I,

27:32

listen,

27:33

sometimes it's chaotic, but I actually really like that because

27:35

that, I think, is the most of the bonding

27:37

experience in some ways. Yeah, no, that's kinda

27:39

like a legendary part of the show, and everyone

27:42

has their ideas of what happens because we never show it,

27:44

really.

27:44

Oh, and yeah, I was saying, people

27:47

have curlers in their hair, one eye of makeup

27:49

on, others look like they just rolled out of bed. It's

27:52

just beautiful chaos.

27:53

I love that. Now that you've

27:55

gotten to know your co-hosts for over, now

27:57

over two years, what, what... relationships

28:00

do you have with them? Who do you

28:02

find yourself hanging out with off camera?

28:05

So Sarah Haynes, I consider my big

28:07

sister of the view. She's just really looked

28:09

out for me. We talk all the time. And

28:13

I think she just has a nature

28:15

about her where she looks out for people. And

28:18

we have same sense of humor. We did this questionnaire

28:20

for the producers to get to know us, all the new hosts

28:22

do it. And we realized we have all the same favorite movies.

28:24

And it's like Anchorman's Step Brothers,

28:27

total child humor. So I

28:29

love Sarah. And she's been a support system to me, especially

28:31

in days that I'm like, I'm nervous about a topic

28:34

or I'm like not

28:35

sure how to share something that I want to. I've

28:37

really benefited from her wisdom. And

28:39

then

28:40

whoopee, like I said, is I feel like

28:43

she has this deep wisdom to her. And

28:45

she also has

28:46

unpredictable, not unpredictable tapes. Her

28:49

takes are never knee jerk. There's

28:51

a lot of thought behind things that she'll

28:53

share. And she's somebody you can always go to offset

28:56

and will give you sound counsel. And she's

28:58

always looking to protect her people,

29:00

which I really love. I'm always taken by

29:02

how everyone.