Rosie O'Donnell Opens Up: Will She Return to The View Amidst Hasselbeck Drama?
Rosie O’Donnell is not closing the door entirely on a return to The View.
During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen on Thursday, June 18, O’Donnell, 64, was quizzed about whether she’d be interested in returning as a guest host, like her former View sparring partner Elisabeth Hasselbeck did earlier this year.
“I would be up to guest host, but they haven’t asked me. So we’ll see what happens,” the comedian and former talk show host shared.
O’Donnell also reignited her feud with former costar Hasselbeck, 49, noting that she caught the latter’s return to the ABC daytime talk show in March.
“It’s interesting, in the time of Trump, I think she’s the perfect person they want on TV spouting their rhetoric, you know?” O’Donnell said, referring to Hasselbeck’s conservative political views.
O’Donnell appeared on The View from 2006 to 2007 (and again from 2014 to 2015) and famously clashed with Hasselbeck on current affairs topics discussed around the table.
In May 2007, during a heated debate about the Iraq war, producers used a split-screen shot to show both O’Donnell and Hasselbeck — something that O’Donnell is still unhappy about.
“Are you still annoyed that the director went to the split screen?” host Andy Cohen asked O’Donnell.
She responded, “Yeah, I’m still annoyed, believe me. Mommy knows how to hold a grudge.”
In an October 2025 radio interview, O’Donnell claimed the split-screen saga “was a set-up,” adding, “Our producer [was] not an on-the-fly kind of guy … he wouldn’t have been like, ‘Let’s go to a splitscreen.’ That was prepared.”
O’Donnell quickly left The View after the controversial segment, asking to be released from her contract with ABC.
“When I went off the stage that day, I went to my dressing room to pack all my stuff up, go back and do the rest of the segments … and walked out and never went back,” O’Donnell said. “It felt to me like I was on a basketball team of five women, and one of them kept tripping me on my way to the hoop. … This [was] supposed to be my team.”
“They were right to have me leave that show,” she added. “It is not the best way for me to serve the talent and the people, because arguing about ridiculous, made-up things is a way for a slow death.”
O’Donnell returned to The View for a five-month stint in 2014, before departing again in early 2015, citing medical reasons.
“[My health] got a little bit worse right before the holidays — [my doctor] was kind of concerned,” she said at the time. “I can't really fix [my personal life] right away, but I can fix [my job]. So I spoke to them at ABC, and I told them, and they understood. They've been unbelievably supportive and loving.”
