It wouldn’t be aView-tiful farewell if it didn’t involve a little emotion, a little bubbly and a little bit of setting the record straight.
She spoke fondly about what her time onThe Viewhad meant to her.
“This show, people go nuts with rumors on this show, and this week has been no exception,” she said, referring to a fresh wave of reportsin CNNandelsewhereabout tensions between the co-hosts including her andMeghan McCain.
“But I just want to be as clear as I possibly can,” Huntsman, 33, continued on Friday. “This has been a dream come true. This has been an incredible job, and I do love everyone at this table. You guys see the ups and downs of all of our [lives] — Meghan has been — you’ve seen what she’s been through in her life, you guys live it with us. And it’s not easy to come out here and be so open and honest and talk about the hardest topics of the day. I have so much respect for everyone at this table and for everyone at this show.”
Fellow panelistJoy Beharthen joked, “You can still change your mind.”
Huntsman continued: “I just want to make it as clear as day, with everything that has been written about this place, that I am leaving so thankful for all the new friends that I have here, for all the friends I had before and will still have and for the opportunity because this place has changed my life for the better.”
ABC
Meghan McCain on Friday’sThe View.ABC
PEOPLEwas first to report the newsthis week that Huntsman would be leavingThe View. One of the show’s conservative voices, she previously worked at Fox News. Her dad, Jon Huntsman Jr., most recently served as U.S. ambassador to Russia before launching his gubernatorial bid.
“Family has always been my No. 1 priority, and is where I need to be focused at this time,” Huntsman said in a statement earlier this week, announcing her departure. “We are incredibly close and are there to support and help each other when it matters. It’s not often there is a political campaign that involves someone you love and believe in, but this is one of them.”
On Friday’s show, co-hosts Behar, 77, andAna Navarro-Cárdenasboth shared well wishes for her. The episode also included a highlight reel of Huntsman’s time — from the serious (such as interviewingDonald Trump Jr.andIvanka Trump) to the silly (dressing up likeLady Gaga, meat dress and all).
Behar, in the moderator’s seat on Friday, took a wry and affectionate tone. “They wrote this for me but I believe this: From day one no matter how heated things got on ‘hot topics,’ she always kept her calm — true — she has a positive spirit, actually it was annoying sometimes how positive you were,” she told Huntsman. “But this is the thing about her: She never baked down when she was speaking truth to power.”
Joy Behar.ABC
McCain,a friend since their time together at Fox News, said Friday, “You better come back.”
“I will,” Huntsman told her.
(Regular moderatorWhoopi Goldberg, who does not appear on Friday’s shows,toasted Huntsmanon Thursday.)
On Monday’s show, McCain, 35, said Huntsman was“such a bright light in everyone’s life.”
“You always see the good in everything,” McCain said then. “You’ve been a friend forever. I’m heartbroken you’re leaving but I can understand better than anybody how important it is to go support your dad. They are special moments. The best of my life was with my dad doing the same thing. I totally get it.”
source: people.com
