New Details! Rosie O'Donnell Leaving The View!
Posted April 25, 2007 @ 10:30 am/ET, Updated @ 11:30 am/ET
Rosie O'Donnell is leaving The View after just one season as co-host! "This has been an amazing experience, and one I wouldn't have traded for the world. Working with Barbara, Joy and Elisabeth has been one of the highlights of my career, but my needs for the future just didn't dovetail with what ABC was able to offer me. To all the viewers out there, I just want to say 'thank you' for opening up your hearts and your homes to me this past year. But you can always find me at rosie.com. Here's hoping there's more confetti for all of us going forward," Rosie said in a statement.
Rosie will end her stay in mid-June. She announced her departure on Wednesday's show, saying, "I've decided we couldn't come to terms with my deal." Rosie said she wanted to sign up for one more year but that ABC wanted three years. "It just didn't work," she said.
Rosie did say she will return next season to work on specials and guest host. "I'm not going away," she assured. "I'm just not here everyday."
Barbara Walters, who sat next to Rosie during the Hot Topics segment, said, "We have had, to say the least, an interesting year ... an exciting, fun-filled, provocative year. We have all gotten together and you will be missed."
Walters, The View's creator and co-executive producer, also released a statement saying, "I induced Rosie to come back to television on The View even for just one year. She has given the program new vigor, new excitement and wonderful hours of television. I can only be grateful to her for this year. I am very sad that ABC Daytime could not reach an agreement with her for a second year. We will all miss Rosie on The View, and hope she will be back with us often next season. She remains for me a cherished friend and colleague."
Click here to read what Rosie's rival, Donald Trump, had to say about her departure.
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