Elisabeth Hasselbeck Responds After New Audio Footage Reveals She Threatened to Quit 'The View' During a Commercial Break

Elisabeth Hasselbeck's fights with Rosie O'Donnell were one of the most infamous to ever have occurred on "The View." But, O'Donnell was apparently not the only one that Hasselbeck sparred with during her ten years on the show. Variety's Ramin Setoodeh, who penned the new book, “Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of ‘The View," has released audio footage from the Aug. 2, 2006 taping of "The View," revealing that Hasselbeck threatened to quit the show in the middle of a commercial break after Barbara Walters publicly reprimanded her live on air. 

During the "Hot Topics" portion of the talk show that day, Hasselbeck and Walters were sparring over the FDA's consideration of the morning-after pill for over-the-counter use. Check out the exchange below.

"Calm down, dear," Walters said, before going into a larger lecture. "We have to learn to discuss these things in some sort of rational way."

Hasselbeck did not calm down, instead running backstage, throwing a few f-bombs and threatening to quit right then and there, feeling Walters had humiliated her.

"F*** that!," she's heard screaming in the audio. "I'm not going to sit there and get reprimanded on the air." 

In the clip, you can hear Joy Behar trying to calm Hasselbeck down and get her to come into her office, but she was too upset.

"Goodbye! I'm off! Write about that in The New York F***ing Post!," she added, before executive producer Bill Geddie rallied her back on set.

In a response on her Instagram page Friday, Hasselbeck offered a few explanations for her old outburst. One, she is a human. Two, she was pregnant and unborn babies were an especially sensitive topic.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

This. Just. In: I am quite humanly reactive. I used bad words when frustrated. I was pregnant with Taylor and a big conversation about the value and the lives of the unborn took place at the View. It was a battle -but not of the flesh. I used fighting words because I believe that God decides the value of the lives of babies. We care for a group of Robin’s eggs in a nest before they are hatched and likely would think twice before stomping on the awesome blue shells because we know what God placed inside the hard womb. And in the heat of the moment, when I felt the need to protect what I knew to be truth and had seen with my own eyes on ultrasound the LIFE in my own shell of a body- I used big battle words (one in particular that I am not proud of and am sorry for using in the heat of trying to defend the lives of the unborn). 2 things I have grown to learn: 1) there are words that DISTRACT from your point: Choose wisely 2) I have a God who fights the battle. I don’t have to do that all on my own. God has changed my ways. He has given me a new thing - it is my heart. He literally did that and I wrote a lot about it in #PointOfViewBook and I boast of plenty of failure and imperfection there. I still hold all my Constitutionally protected rights to freedom of faith : but now: I can hold the hand of the person who does not agree at the same time ???????? because I believe that we can do that by His grace. hold truth and hold grace as best we can. BY HIS POWER. In my weakness I am made strong. My new word that begins with the letter F: FAITHFUL Because that is who GOD IS

A post shared by  Elisabeth Hasselbeck (@elisabethhasselbeck) on Apr 5, 2019 at 8:51am PDT

Recommended

Why This Girl Wrestler Had Shock and Horror All Over Her Face? It's All on Video. Matt Vespa

Advertisement

Hasselbeck's fights with O'Donnell during the comedian's one-year stint on the talk show also grated on her. 

"Here's how it [will get] spun in the media: 'Big, fat, lesbian, loud Rosie attacks innocent, pure, Christian Elisabeth," O'Donnell fumed in their most explosive exchange.

Hasselbeck, the lone conservative voice at the time, left "The View" in July 2013.