NEWSRosie Perez Admits 'The View' Was 'Not What' She Signed Up For When She Took The Job
March 30 2023, Published 6:30 p.m. ET
Rosie Perez admitted signing up for The View was not what she expected.
The actress, 58, signed on in 2014 to appear on Season 18 of the talk show series — but she only lasted for one season.
“I’m not supposed to talk about it,” she cryptically replied during an interview. “Let’s just say that what I thought I was there for was supposed to be one kind of a thing, which excited me, and then when I got there, that’s not what it was.”
The Flight Attendant star kept quiet about facing any discrimination on the show.
After anonymous executives made comments about her in a Variety story that hinted she couldn't read a teleprompter, Perez never received an apology. Later on in 2020, ABC executive Barbara Fedida, who was running the show when Perez was there, was fired for racially insensitive comments about Robin Roberts.
However, Perez wouldn't comment on the situation, saying, "Not going there."
In 2015, she recalled her last days on set.
“Nicolle [Wallace] went to reach for my hand, and I went, ‘Oh, my God, I’m not going to see you every morning.’ And then I looked at Whoopi [Goldberg], and she was holding back the tears, and that was it. That’s when I lost it,” she told The Hollywood Reporter.
“I was like, ‘My gosh, this show has been great. It’s opened me up to so many new people,’” Perez added. “And every night when I come out of the theater at [her Broadway play] Fish in the Dark, it’s like, ‘Oh, you were so great, and I love you on The View,’ and I really appreciate that.”
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Perez also admitted it was hard to tell her costars about her departure, especially Goldberg and Wallace.
“I told Nicolle Wallace first. It was a hard call,” the Hollywood star noted. “I waited on Whoopi because I didn’t have the nerve to call her. But they were like, ‘We get it.’ Nicolle was like, ‘Oh, we’ll be so sad.’ And Whoopi was like, ‘Is this what you want to do?’ And I said, ‘Yes.’ And she said, ‘Then I’m all for it, and I love you. We’ll always still be friends.’ “
Variety conducted the interview with Perez.
