(ABC)
Thursday marked Rosie O’Donnell’s last day on “The View,” and Gossip Cop has full video of her goodbye. Watch below!
As Gossip Cop reported, O’Donnell announced her exit last week, less than a year after rejoining the show after an infamously controversial stint in 2006-2007. She was part of a new panel with Whoopi Goldberg, Rosie Perez, and Nicolle Wallace that debuted last September. And though the season typically goes until May, O’Donnell has said she needs to depart now to focus on her health and family in the wake of splitting from wife Michelle Rounds.
When Thursday’s live show started, the audience gave O’Donnell an extended standing ovation, and her co-hosts followed. She comically urged the audience to stop, saying it was only an hour-long show, but then, alluding to claims of on-set tension, jokingly said that she wouldn’t be leaving if she always got that reception.
Later in the broadcast, guest Kenan Thompson asked O’Donnell why she was exiting. “I got a lot of stress. I got a lot of kid stuff going on. I got a lot of home stuff going on. I gotta take care of it,” she responded. The “SNL” star then wanted to know if O’Donnell could “go and come back,” and she replied, “Maybe!”
Then, with a few minutes left in the episode, O’Donnell held her daughter Dakota on stage as she said her farewell (see photo above). “I want to say thank you to the cast, the crew, and mostly to Barbara Walters, who has always looked out for me and my career,” said O’Donnell, noting she and the “View” creator just had lunch the day before. “I want to thank her for making the show and letting me be on it twice.”
“We’ve had fun on the show and I hope we’re going to have more,” continued O’Donnell, saying she hopes to return for some crafting segments. “I have a glue gun and will travel,” she joked. And with that, it was over. See a brief clip of O’Donnell’s entrance below, and check back shortly for the full video.
