Joy Behar Returns to ‘The View’ After Week-Long Hiatus But Doesn’t Address Her Absence

Joy Behar returned after a week-long absence from the cohosting lineup on The View‘s Tuesday (February 3) episode.

The series original was missing from last week’s shows due to what cohost Whoopi Goldberg said was an illness, but Behar did not directly address her absence during the show, which was a full “Hot Topics” day… apart from also being a baby shower for Alyssa Farah Griffin.

Behar, 83, was also not present for Monday’s show, but that is typical, given her usual Tuesday through Friday schedule.

While Behar didn’t touch on what the exact ailment that kept her out of commission last week was, she did have a personal anecdote to share when it came to her name, after learning that someone in the live audience was giving their soon-to-be-born child “Joy” as a middle name.

“My real name is Josephine Victoria, but my grandfather called me ‘Joy,’ my Italian grandfather. He’d say, ‘Joya mia.’ So from infancy, I was always known as Joy,” she remembered.

She also had a word of caution about choosing Joy as a child’s name, saying, “You have to know that ‘Joy’ is a noun, so it always comes up in Christmas and all sorts of ways. Just remember that.” When asked by her cohosts if that was “annoying” to her, she admitted, “Well, it’s a little… it’s confusing.”

“When they sing ‘Joy to the World,’ do you think it’s about you?” Sara Haines asked.

“I do,” Behar confirmed, earning laughs from the panelists.

Behar had been absent since last Tuesday (January 27), when Goldberg announced, “So we want to let you know Joy is out. She’s not feeling well. So we want her to feel better and get her behind back here.”

Then, on Thursday, Goldberg revealed that Behar would need to be absent for the rest of the week, including Friday, which meant Goldberg had to stay on as moderator during her usual day off.

The View, weekdays, 11a/10c, ABC

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