Following her controversial on-air take about the Holocaust back in February, Whoopi Goldberg was put on a two-week suspension from co-hosting duties at The View. The situation ruffled quite a few feathers, but one current Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star who tried out for the daytime talk show in 2015 has since claimed there’s even more drama behind the scenes. Two months after Goldberg's suspension, in fact, the Bravo star opened up specifically about the seasoned TV vets’ behavior on set.
At the time this all occurred, the main co-host lineup only included the likes of Whoopi Goldberg, Nicolle Wallace and Rosie Perez (after Rosie O'Donnell quit for a second time), with guest hostesses being brought in for auditions to fill out the future roster. In one episode, comedian Michelle Collins and actress Garcelle Beauvais (of eventual RHBH fame) were put through the vetting process. Collins ultimately got the gig in the 2015-16 season, but Beauvais seemingly didn’t like her temporary experience on The View anyway. In her new memoir, Love Me as I Am, per Page Six, the 55-year-old wrote that Goldberg’s behavior was very surprising to her, saying:
I was shocked and appalled to see how testy Whoopi was with the show’s producers. I was embarrassed and disappointed, to say the least. It was cringeworthy!
Garcelle Beauvais shared that it was, overall, “an uninviting workplace.” As she tells it, none of the other co-hosts welcomed her ahead of taping for the show, and “nobody” spoke to her afterwards, either. She claims to have expected a more affable atmosphere but was instead met with “cold, unfriendly and standoffish” energy by the alums. Which is interesting because, of late, former co-host Meghan McCain had described the show as a toxic workplace herself.
The Coming to America alum, whose career spans decades at this point, also added in her memoir that Rosie Perez had kicked her under the table during her tryout. She took it as a “shut-the-fuck-up-bitch, you’re-talking-too-much signal kick!” After the fact, Perez supposedly explained to her that they know better the “system” at The View of when someone speaks and for how long. Nevertheless, the Beverly Hills star didn’t seem to appreciate the move in her initial reaction. She wrote in her book:
What kind of system is that where grown women kick each other like fucking mules? Was this a new type of morse code or something? GTFOOH!
Despite the drama, it's apparently all water under the bridge now for Garcelle Beauvais. She told Page Six that she still records the show even and loves the new cast, particularly Sunny Hostin. As for Whoopi Goldberg, Beauvais said to the outlet that she got “reintroduced” to a new-to-her side of the icon when she starred in the Lifetime movie Caught in His Web, on which Goldberg served as executive producer last year. Beauvais continued, saying that she told Goldberg, amidst filming the project, what she was writing about concerning the past and The View:
Of course I addressed it with Whoopi. She didn’t remember. But I told her because I didn’t want to go into the film like I was bamboozling her. That’s not my thing. So it was important that she knew that was in my book. We’re all good now.
So Garcelle Beauvais and Whoopi Goldberg have ironed things out. Goldberg herself took another leave of absence from the ABC staple after her suspension – a self-imposed one as she went to film a book-to-TV adaptation of Anansi Boys. But the question remains if Beauvais and her Real Housewives of Beverly Hills co-star Erika Jayne will iron things out as well after an unfollowing spree and the latter throwing Beauvais’ book in the trash amidst their ongoing feud. Quite frankly, I don't know which show has more drama, Bravo's reality series or ABC's talk show.
We’ll get to see what all that behind-the-scenes drama is really about when The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills premieres Season 12 on May 11 at 8 p.m. EST! And of course, you can also watch Whoopi Goldberg and co. on The View on Monday-Friday at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.
