Meghan McCain says work culture at tv show The View was so ‘TOXIC’ she ‘threw up in a garbage can’ after spat with Joy Behar

Conservative firebrand Meghan McCain has gone into detail about her testy relationship with liberal ‘The View’ co-hosts Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg in a new audio book explaining her departure from the talk show.

The long-running ‘The View’ often makes headlines over heated exchanges between the liberal hosts and its token conservative panelist – a role filled by McCain until recently when she announced her sudden departure.

McCain reportedly details the “toxic” work environment at the show in her new audio memoir, ‘Bad Republican.’

The conservative personality claims most hostility on the show came from Goldberg and Behar, the two she has most often clashed with onscreen. Goldberg, McCain claims, showed “open disdain” for McCain.

“Once she turns on you, it can create unfathomable tension on the set,” she wrote, according to excerpts published by Fox News. 

Behar and Goldberg, despite being vocal liberals, both showed “toxic, direct, and purposeful hostility,” McCain claimed about her former colleagues. While McCain could be critical of Donald Trump while he was president (especially when he criticized her late father), she was seen as far more supportive of the former president by other hosts and, as Trump’s star rose, McCain’s standing with her co-hosts fell.

It was “as if I had become an avatar for everything they hated about the president,” she wrote. Her decision to leave, she goes on to claim, came after she returned from maternity leave to find Behar saying live on air that she did not not miss her or arguing with her one bit. 

“I felt like I’d been slapped,” McCain said, adding that she began crying from the remark and decided the show wasn’t worth the effort. 

“I couldn't stop crying, and I'm not always crying. I couldn't compose myself. I threw up in the garbage can. I was so overcome. This is my narrative – 'I come back from maternity leave and no one missed me.' I knew it was going to be everywhere,” she said in a Tuesday interview with Variety. “I was just so confused, because women when they have babies should be treated respectfully when they come back to work.” 

McCain also pointed to the fact that “better leadership” was needed to help with the communication issues between the testy hosts. 

The situation is so bad it could lead to an “Ellen-style” moment for the show, McCain said, referencing the end of Ellen DeGeneres’ long-running talk show following numerous reports of a toxic work environment. 

“In my exit interview, the last thing I told [ABC news head Kim Godwin] is, 'You got to change the culture on the show or the culture is going to change you, Ellen style.' They've got to start changing things or it will not survive,” she said, after explaining she was often told to smile more and brighten up her appearance for the show.

While many have celebrated McCain’s exit from ‘The View’ – which caters to a more left-wing audience – others have publicly offered support, including fellow journalists.

“It made me sick and angry to see the torture she went through on a daily basis. There’s no question ⁦@TheView⁩ was a toxic work environment that made it impossible for Meghan to thrive,” Fox News’ Janice Dean tweeted. 

Other former hosts of ‘The View’ have similarly described emotionally-trying experiences, with Cameron Candace Bure, who co-hosted from 2015 to 2016, even joking recently she had PTSD from the “emotional stress” of the series. 

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