Picture this: Rosie O'Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck, two powerhouse personalities, sharing the stage on "The View." On the surface, they often clashed, but what was really going on behind the scenes? A new book, Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of The View, is pulling back the curtain on their dynamic. According to the book, Rosie and Elisabeth had a surprisingly close relationship off-screen, despite their fiery on-screen debates.
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Let me tell you, folks, this story is a real doozy. In the book written by Ramin Setoodeh, which hit shelves on April 2, Rosie, now 57, gets candid about her relationship with Elisabeth, 41. Rosie revealed that she once took it upon herself to mentor Elisabeth, offering advice on how to improve her debating skills on live television. "Here's what I said, 'I'm the senior. She's the freshman. I've got a really good player on the freshman team, but I have to teach her how to loosen up,'" Rosie explained, as reported by Variety. It sounds like Rosie was trying to be the ultimate team player.
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Lesbian Undertones? Rosie Opens Up About Elisabeth
Now, here's where things get really interesting. Joy Behar once suggested that Rosie had a crush on Elisabeth during their time on the show, but Rosie didn't confirm it—until now. In the book, Rosie admits that there might have been some underlying lesbian undertones in their relationship. "I think there were underlying lesbian undertones on both parts," Rosie said. "I think this is something that will hurt her if you write it. She was the MVP of a Division 1 softball team for two years that won the finals. There are not many, in my life, girls with such athletic talent on sports teams that are traditionally male that aren’t at least a little bit gay." That's a bold statement, folks.
Rosie then went on to say that while she was attracted to Elisabeth, it was never anything sexual. "There was a little bit of a crush. But not that I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to support, raise, elevate her, like she was the freshman star shortstop and I was the captain of the team," Rosie explained. She compared their dynamic to basketball legends Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan, saying, "I was going to Scottie Pippen her. If I was [Michael] Jordan, I was going to give her the ball and let her shoot. But it was in no way sexualized." It sounds like Rosie saw Elisabeth as a protégé more than anything else.
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Before Rosie left "The View" in 2007 after just one season (she later returned from 2014-2015), she and Elisabeth had a major falling out that left a lasting impression. The incident happened when Elisabeth refused to defend Rosie against conservative critics. Rosie compared the moment to a breakup, saying, "It felt like a lover breaking up. The fight that we had, to me as a gay woman, it felt like this: 'You don’t love me as much as I love you.' 'I’ve taken care of you.' 'You have not.’ How could you do that to me?’ 'I didn’t do anything to you.'" It sounds like Rosie felt deeply betrayed by Elisabeth's actions, and it's clear that this moment left a mark on their friendship. Elisabeth eventually left the show in 2013 after a decade-long run.
