After a brief tenure from 2018 to 2020, former Fox News personality Abby Huntsman abruptly announced that she was leaving The View to help work on her father’s gubernatorial campaign. While that was the official story, reports quickly began to swirl that Huntsman’s real reason for leaving was because of behind-the-scenes drama at The View that was coming from an odd source: Her best friend Meghan McCain. The two were close allies on the show thanks to their friendship and shared background of being the daughters of conservative politician. In fact, McCain reportedly pushed ABC execs to hire Huntsman, so it was notable that after a short stint, she made a run for the exit.
After fading into the background, Huntsman has returned with a new podcast, I Wish Somebody Told Me, and she’s opening up about leaving the daytime talk show. Right out of the gate, Huntsman confirms that, yes, the show’s workplace environment was her real reason for quitting and working for her father’s campaign was a convenient excuse that popped up at just the right time.
Huntsman then made a very notable remark considering McCain just spent last week promoting her audiobook that dipped heavily into the behind-the-scenes drama at The View. Via Deadline:
“I’m never going to write a tell-all book,” [Huntsman] says, but adds that the “executives in charge” had created an environment that “was all about money and the tabloids… You would see people act in ways that were not okay, that was very much part of the toxic environment of The View, and here we were going on the air criticizing others for toxic culture.”
On the one hand, Huntsman seemingly corroborates McCain’s claim about The View‘s toxicity issue. On the other, Huntsman could also very easily be talking about McCain as the source of that toxicity, which CNN reported back in January 2020. The two reportedly had a falling out after McCain told Huntsman to stop bringing up her children during panel discussions. Of course, Huntsman could clear things up by stating that McCain was not her reason for leaving, but interestingly, she chose not to go that route.
(Via Deadline)