Jenny McCarthy Reveals She Was ‘Miserable’ Working With Barbara Walters on ‘The View’

It certainly seems like Jenny McCarthy wasn’t interested in biting her tongue, as it has been revealed, thanks to an excerpt published by Vulture of Ramin Setoodeh’s upcoming book, Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of The View, that Jenny was pretty “miserable” working with Barbara Walters on The View. 

The TV personality, 46, apparently wasn’t very happy during her stint on the hit daytime program from 2013 to 2014, as not only did she turn down a chance for her own CBS daytime talk show in order to join the ladies on the ABC panel, but she did not get along with the show’s creator, 89. “You know the movie Mommie Dearest? I remember as a child watching that movie and going, ‘Holy cow!’” Jenny said of the 1981 film about Joan Crawford’s allegedly abusive relationship with her adopted daughter, Christina Crawford. “I’ve never seen a woman yell like that before until I worked with Barbara Walters.”

The MTV alumna also revealed in the book that the legendary journalist wasn’t ready to retire from the show. “Imagine a woman like Barbara Walters,” Jenny explained. “It’s her last year and she doesn’t want to leave. Think about that. And I’m the new bitch there.” Jenny wasn’t done there, as she also said that Barbara would constantly forget the names of the celebrities being discussed on the program, adding that she was told they couldn’t “do pop culture anymore because [Barbara] doesn’t know who the people are” and that she was instructed to tackle politics instead.

“I panicked because I don’t consider myself a political person,” Jenny said. “Now I had to figure out, ‘Am I coming out as a Republican or a Democrat? Where do I stand on all the social issues and political issues?’“ And that’s when Jenny started becoming quite unhappy about her job. “I was going to work crying. I couldn’t be myself,” she recalled. “My fans were telling me, ‘Where’s Jenny? They aren’t letting you be you.’”

She continued, “Every day I went home and I was miserable. It really was the most miserable I’ve been on a job in my 25 years of show business. I kicked myself for not taking the CBS job, of course.”

The Masked Singer judge also revealed that Barbara would criticize her outfits — “if she didn’t agree with it, or it didn’t compliment her outfit, I had to change,” she said. Eventually, it seems Jenny did her best to stay away from the longtime TV host.

“When I’d hear the shuffle of her feet, I knew that Barbara was after me,” Jenny recalled. “It would get faster. Oh my God — she’s coming! Based on the speed of the shuffle, I would hide or get on the phone.” And yet, there doesn’t seem to be any hard feelings or animosity towards Barbara.

“Look at what Barbara did to me. I had zero hard feelings,” she said. “I loved her like a grandma. She didn’t know any better.”

Barbara and Jenny are no longer on The View, as the current panel consists of Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Abby Huntsman, Meghan McCain and Sunny Hostin.