Whoopi Goldberg: ‘The View’ is ‘Calmer’ Since Meghan McCain’s Exit

McCain, 37, joined the ABC talk show in October 2017 and exited in August 2021 after four seasons. The daughter of late Republican Sen. John McCain often clashed with the other co-hosts, particularly Goldberg and Joy Behar.

The former Fox News host revealed on “The Commentary Magazine Podcast” in August that the catalyst for quitting “The View” was Behar’s response to her returning from maternity leave in January 2021 after giving birth to her daughter, Liberty.

“I finally went back to the show, and the day I went back to the show, Joy Behar said on air, ‘Nobody missed you, we didn’t miss you, you shouldn’t have come back,’” she recalled.

McCain said she went back to her office and threw up before calling her brother, who encouraged her to leave the show.

The conservative media personality has also criticized Goldberg.

“The thing about Whoopi … is that she yields so much power in culture and television, and once she turns on you, it can create unfathomable tension at the table,” she said in her 2021 audio memoir, “Bad Republican.”

“I found her open disdain for me more and more difficult to manage as the years went on, and it became more frequent. Occasionally, if the show’s political discourse veered into territory that she found disagreeable, Whoopi would cut me off, sometimes harshly.”

And it seems like the disfavor was mutual.

“We’ve always had disagreements and stuff, but this one was a little bit different,” Goldberg explained to us on Saturday. “I think [the show], it’s better. I feel it’s better, but I’m still tired!”

The “Sister Act” star confessed that even her own daughter called out the awkward facial expressions she sometimes made when talking to McCain on the air.

“My daughter would say to me, ‘I can see your face!’ [And I would say], ‘OK, I’ll be better,’” she shared.

Surprisingly, Goldberg said there was no squabbling backstage despite the drama on camera.

“People felt like they wanted to go home,” she said. “There was no point in fighting. You do what you do and you go home and do what you love to do. And hopefully, everybody is now happier.”

Goldberg attended the New York Film Festival to help present “Till,” in which she plays Emmett Till’s grandmother Alma Carthan; she was also one of the movie’s producers. The film is inspired by Mamie Till-Mobley’s dogged pursuit of justice for her son Emmett, who was lynched at age 14 in Mississippi in 1955.