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- Sherri Shepherd and Elisabeth Hasselbeck were co-hosts on The View in the early 2000s beside creator Barbara Walters
- The two reminisced about working with Walters, who died in December 2022, and how she would often give them tough love
- Despite getting “in trouble” with Walters for their antics and chattiness, Shepherd and Hasselbeck agreed that they learned so much from the late television veteran
Barbara Walters left a lasting impression on Sherri Shepherd and Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
During the March 27 episode of her talk show, Sherri, Shepherd, 57, and Hasselbeck, 47, reminisced on their days working together on The View. Shepherd was a co-host on the talk show from 2007-2014, while Hasselbeck appeared on the series from 2003-2013. Walters was a mainstay on the program from its inception in 1997 until 2014.
Revealing that they got along because they “were the most adventurous” of the cohosts, they also said that didn’t always serve them well.
“We got in trouble a lot,” Hasselbeck recalled. “We were the two kids in the room that would get in trouble [with creator and host] Barbara [Walters] because she had high standards. And sometimes we wanted to reach those, and sometimes we didn’t.”
Shepherd admitted that “I would cry because Barbara was very hard on us,” but said that although the legendary journalist — who died in December 2022 — didn’t always approve of their antics, she holds a special place in their hearts.
“I remember the last time we were on The View together, you and I, it was Barbara Walters’ last show,” she told Hasselbeck. “It was her last show, and everybody came. Because Barbara Walters made a difference in every one of these ladies’ lives.”
Both women agreed that they learned a lot from Walters, and Hasselbeck said that they “were her favorites, together.”
“I love Barbara,” she said. “She taught me so much. She was the most curious person, so she would research everything. She would know more about you than you remembered about yourself. And she would make sure that she left so much room to listen and have the best followups. It didn’t matter if she was interviewing someone on a horse — she would break the plane, and she did it with such dignity.”
“She was hard on us,” Hasselbeck continued. “She had high standards for broadcast and interviewing and research and news. But I learned so much from her.”
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Whenever Shepherd was discouraged by Walters’ tough love, she explained that Hasselbeck would remind her where the late host was coming from.
“You would tell me, ‘It’s gonna make you strong. It’s gonna make you better. So don’t even worry about it,’” Shepherd shared. “But we used to get in trouble a lot. Did she kick you under the chair?”
“No,” Hasselbeck replied, much to Shepherd’s surprise.
Instead, Hasselbeck said Walters “would just put her little pretty hand on me” as a signal to stop, which Shepherd found amusing.
“I must have been talking too much because I got the foot in the ankle, girl,” she joked.
Hasselbeck also remembered squeezing Shepherd’s leg under the table as “a reminder” that they would make it through the show when the days felt difficult.
“We survived,” Shepherd quipped. “We survived Barbara Walters’ love.”
“So grateful to her,” Hasselbeck said before Shepherd added, “It absolutely changed our careers.”
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