Sherri Shepherd acknowledged Rosie O’Donnell for helping her negotiate a better contract when she joined The View in 2007 by openly sharing the salaries of the other co-hosts.
In an in-depth interview with Vulture, Shepherd opened up about her time on the ABC daytime talk show, which she co-hosted from 2007 to 2014. When she joined the show, the panelists included Barbara Walters, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, and Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
Shepherd shared how when she was first offered the role as View co-host, “They didn’t want to give me no money,” adding, “I would have made more in a sitcom, and I got a boy with special needs.”
After having to deal with “the tabloids” calling her “difficult,” Shepherd revealed how O’Donnell, who left The View in 2007, called her and “was like, ‘Let me tell you what everybody’s making.’”
According to Shepherd, O’Donnell told her that she was making $2 million, while Behar and Hasselbeck were on $500,000. “So you need to ask for $2 million,” Shepherd recalled O’Donnell saying.
“They had offered me $400,000,” the comedian added. “I eventually made a million, too. I always will credit Rosie O’Donnell for being free with that.”
Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Barbara Walters
Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Barbara Walters; Steve Fenn / © ABC / Courtesy: Everett Collection
Elsewhere in the interview, Shepherd told the outlet it was a “learning curve” when she joined The View. Due to her Jehovah’s Witness upbringing, the daytime talk show host said she didn’t have much experience debating people or discussing politics.
“Everything that I learned not to do — don’t argue with your elders, don’t debate — was something I had to do every day with Whoopi Goldberg and Barbara Walters right there,” she stated.
Shepherd admitted that Goldberg and Walters were tough on her, revealing how, at the time, “I really thought [Goldberg] didn’t like me. I see now it was just love; she just didn’t want me to go through what she went through.”
She noted how Walters “was always saying something to get under my skin,” which made her cry “for those three years.” However, looking back now, the 30 Rock alum said she thinks Walters was “pushing” her.
“If you don’t learn to speak up with Barbara, she’s going to eat you alive; that’s all she respects,” she shared. “On my last day, Barbara said she loved me and said, ‘You learned the most.’”
As for whether she stays in touch with any of her former View co-hosts, Shepherd revealed she is still close with Behar, even though she joked, “That b**** got married on the same day as me.” She added, “I stay with her in the Hamptons, except she turns off all the lights like old people, so she ain’t no fun.”
Hasselbeck did attend Shepherd’s 2014 wedding as a bridesmaid, but Shepherd admitted their friendship is “a little bit more difficult with this administration.”
“I have to know where you stand, and it’s very hard for me if I know that you’re on that side. So we are not as close,” she said. “But she was my praying buddy — when Bill Maher, who spoke badly about me, came on, she came into my room and went, ‘I will bring him to his knees.’ It’s like a sisterhood; you stay in touch with everybody because we know how difficult it was, especially the ones that were with Barbara.
Shepherd added, “Whoopi didn’t attend my wedding, I think because she didn’t like my husband at the time.”
Shepherd married writer Lamar Sally in August 2011; they separated in May 2014 and finalized their divorce in 2015.
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