Meghan McCain was ‘miserable’ at ‘vicious’ ‘The View’
Meghan McCain has been wanting to say sayonara to “The View” since not long after she joined the talk show, a source exclusively told Page Six.
“She’s been wanting to get out, especially since she now lives in the DC area with her family. She doesn’t want to come back to New York and be a part of that show. She’s been miserable since she started,” the source said.
Before McCain, 36, announced on Thursday that she’ll end her four-season run in July, an insider told us, “ABC begged for her to stay, [and] she said, ‘No — I’m done! I’m not staying anymore.’”
The network had “even offered a contributor role on ABC News, which she turned down,” the insider said. “She’s just had enough. She doesn’t need it anymore — she really doesn’t need it.”
The insider added on Thursday: “The number of people who exit the show, it’s a joke. It’s a game there. It’s under the news division and … they thrive off women fighting. Everyone leaves there with their hair on fire. It’s really vicious.”
A different source further said of the outgoing conservative co-host: “People have loved hurting her and being cruel to her the entire time she’s been there.”
McCain joined the show in 2017 and caused waves throughout her tenure.
Multiple sources told us that the ousters of top ABC execs Barbara Fedida and James Goldston were “a game changer” for McCain and her co-hosts.
“[McCain] no longer had the climate of protection she had under [former ABC News president] James Goldston,” one insider said. “When he was there, there was this sense of retribution if you didn’t get along with Meghan. She would act out, yell at the audience, guests, and fight with her co-hosts [on-air], but there was never an ‘OK, you have to get along with your co-hosts.”
Another source added: “The onus was always on them to get along with her and put up with her bulls–t.”
When Kim Godwin was named president of ABC News in April, we’re told she took a “no-nonsense” approach in shaping up the show.
“There was a meeting. Kim didn’t take a side, but she came in with a stern, ‘You have to figure this out,'” an insider said.
Despite buzz that McCain — the daughter of the late Sen. John McCain — was getting pushed out, multiple sources told us that she ultimately decided to leave. And despite the hosts’ chummy on-air goodbye, multiple sources and insiders maintain the ladies “hate each other.”
ABC previously said in a statement: “For the past four years, Meghan McCain has brought her fierce determination and vast political knowledge and experience to ‘The View.’ She recently came to us with her decision to depart the show at the end of this season, a difficult choice that she made for her and her family that we respect and understand. We wish the best for Meghan as she plans her next chapter, and thank her for the passion and unique voice that she shared with us and our viewers each day.”