Barbara Walters is unbothered by the highly anticipated book on all the backstage drama surrounding 'The View,' a source tells ET.
Barbara Walters is unbothered by Ramin Setoodeh's highly anticipated book on all the backstage drama surrounding The View, a source tells ET.
Short excerpts from Setoodeh's Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of The View -- out Tuesday -- have already been released, and the book doesn't always portray Walters in the most flattering light. For example, former View co-host Jenny McCarthy talked to Setoodeh about her "miserable" one year on the show from 2013-2014, and claims Walters, who was upset about being forced to retire from the show, was incredibly temperamental.
"You know the movie Mommie Dearest? I remember as a child watching that movie and going, 'Holy cow!' I've never seen a woman yell like that before until I worked with Barbara Walters," McCarthy says in an excerpt published by Vulture.
But our source says 89-year-old Walters isn't going to pay attention to the book's characterization of her.
“Barbara Walters was a trailblazer for women, worked hard her entire life, is a consummate perfectionist and is sometimes not easy to work with," the source says. "Barbara will not pay attention to this book."
A second source tells ET, "Barbara's many accomplishments should be most important, from her more than a half-century career in the television business. It is because of Barbara Walters that The View exists and has the incredible history that it does."
"She made the calls to the affiliates herself and shared her expertise as one of the best producers in the business," the source continues of Walters' contributions to the long-running talk show, which she actually conceived.
Of course, the broadcasting legend isn't the only one who the book doesn't characterize in the best light. McCarthy also claims co-host Whoopi Goldberg was extremely controlling and was often at odds with Walters.
"People don’t understand. Whoopi can knock over anyone in a debate," McCarthy says. "Her voice is not only strong in meaning but in sound. I wasn’t going to play a kiss a**. To me, Whoopi had an addiction to controlling people’s thoughts, their words, the room, the table, your feeling, your mood. She had an addiction to controlling all of it and everybody."
But a source close to 63-year-old Goldberg tells ET that what she brings to The View every day is her experience and talent.
“Whoopi is a pro and truly one of a kind," the source says. "She shows up, knows what she wants and always brings her incredible wisdom, experience and talent to the work she does."
In ET's own exclusive excerpt from the book, one of The View's original co-hosts, Debbie Matenopoulos, says Walters made her less-than-positive feelings about the show known when she left in 2014. Matenopoulos recalls telling Walters backstage at an onstage reunion of 11 of the show's co-hosts during Walters' last week on The View, "My mom wants me to tell you, you can't do this! Nobody is going to watch the show after you leave."
"Oh, baby," Walters then responded loudly, according to the book. "How long can the show go on? It's going to be canceled in a few years."
Walters herself talked to Setoodeh for the book and said she didn't approve of the number of co-hosts who followed her on the show. Aside from McCarthy, short-lived co-hosts on The View have included Candace Cameron Bure, Raven-Symone and Sara Haines.
"It's too many," Walters says. "I think you should tune in and know who they are. There are days when I tune in and I don’t recognize anybody."
For more on the book -- including O'Donnell saying she had a "bit of a crush" on Elisabeth Hasselbeck, despite the two being at odds since getting into an intense on-air debate about the Iraq War in 2007 -- watch the video below:
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