Former “The View” cohost Michelle Collins says show gave her PTSD, alleges difficult dynamic behind the scenes
Collins speculated that her exit was "collateral" amid "so many things going on behind the scenes with the producers."
Comedian Michelle Collins, who co-hosted The View for one season from 2015-16, has alleged a difficult working environment on the set of the ABC talk show.
In a wide-ranging discussion with Saturday Night Live star Bowen Yang and recent View guest Matt Rogers on Wednesday's episode of the Las Culturistas podcast, Collins opened up about her time on the long-running series — and, according to her, it wasn't an enjoyable experience.
"I have bitten my tongue about a lot of the things that went on there, I think partially due to light PTSD, and just also being raised in a family home where we took the high road. I find it ugly. Frankly, it took me a long time to kind of come to terms with the fact that it was, and still is, the biggest thing I've ever done, and allowed me the opportunity to gain fans," Collins, who kicks off her Big Natural tour on April 23, told the pair, referencing her single-season stint at the season 19 Hot Topics table. "I can't spit where I came from. But, I'll add that it does frustrate me a hair that I have behaved so well and then this show has absolutely never invited me back, they have a podcast, they never asked me back."
Collins, who sat at the table alongside moderator Whoopi Goldberg, longtime cohost Joy Behar, Raven-Symoné, Candace Cameron-Bure, and Paula Faris, said that she "played the game right" following her firing, and lamented that she's "not rewarded a little bit" for holding back.
She went on to claim that the show reached out to her to film a brief introductory segment featuring past cohosts ahead of its 25-year anniversary episode, which she agreed to do and even filmed in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. But, Collins said she felt slighted when the episode finally aired.
"The premiere comes out and I swear they put me in, what's the tiniest three-by-three-pixel square on an HD TV? You couldn't see. It looked like I was in Schenectady," Collins said. "I wasn't bitter about it because, like, what are they going to do? Feature me? I was on the show for like, six months. So, fine. But then that whole season I thought, you know what? it's s----y, and I'll say it, it isn't nice. It's like, listen, I exist, and I've played the game, but now I guess I don't have to anymore, so that's exciting."
Rogers, who spiced up the show during his December 2023 appearance on The View when he prompted Behar to tell him to "shut up" after he revealed he once saw her ride an airplane without shoes on, added that "the show lacks danger now" that its cohosts are all, as he felt, averse to conflict.
"It lacks a little bit of that energy. You know who tries to start mess is Sunny [Hostin], but because she's the only one trying to start mess, it's funny when she does, because you can see her rev up and deliver and it's just like, you don't believe this," Rogers said.
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Michelle Collins on 'The View'Toward the end of the discussion, Collins admitted she'd "happily go back" and even reached out to a friend who still works on the show, but nothing ultimately materialized.
"For me, it's been such a long time, but I think that they do really want to forget about Candace, Raven, and I," she said, though Bure is set to appear on The View as a guest this Friday, while Goldberg also appeared on Symoné's podcast in August 2023.
"I personally think that there were so many things going on behind the scenes with the producers that we were just sort of, what's the word in war?" she continued. "We were just the collateral, maybe is the word I'm looking for. They didn't care. Like, okay, next, we've got to bring other people in."
Entertainment Weekly has reached out to a representative for The View for comment.
Collins isn't the only former View cohost who's spoken out against the show. Meghan McCain, who departed the program after repeated on-air spats with her cohosts, regularly criticizes the show on her Meghan McCain Has Entered the Chat podcast — including in December 2023, when she called the current cohosts "crazy old people" who bully and abuse her.
Rosie O'Donnell — whose 2007 on-air clash with Elisabeth Hasselbeck remains the most notable View fight of all time — said in an April 2023 interview with Brooke Shields that she felt like she had to "argue and defend basic principles of humanity and kindness" while she worked on the program.
The View airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC. Listen to Collins discuss the show on Las Culturistas above.
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