The conservative co-host announced her exit from the ABC talk show on Thursday.
Meghan McCain is stepping down as co-host of The View. The 36-year-old conservative commentator announced on Thursday that she is leaving the ABC talk show after several years on the panel.
"So I'm just going to rip the band-aid off. I am here to tell all of you, my wonderful co-hosts and the viewers at home that this is going to be my last season here at The View," she revealed. "I will be here through the end of July to finish out the season with all of you, which I am grateful for. This was not an easy decision. It took a lot of thought and counsel and prayer and talking to my family and my close friends."
McCain noted that the COVID-19 pandemic changed a lot of things for her as she found herself pregnant and quarantining in Washington D.C. She gave birth to her and husband Ben Domenech's daughter, Liberty, in September.
"COVID has changed the world for all of us, and it changed the way at least for me -- the way I am looking at life, the way I'm living my life, the way I want my life to look like," she continued. "When I think about where I want Liberty to have her first steps and her first words, I just have this really wonderful life here."
She went on to praise her co-hosts, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin and Sara Haines, saying, "It is a privilege to work alongside such strong, brilliant, intelligent, incredible broadcasters like the four of you. You are the most talented women on all of television, hands-down, and it has been to incredible to do this with you."
After McCain's announcement, ABC News released a statement to ET about her departure from The View.
“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," the statement reads. "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."
McCain first joined the show in October 2017 after leaving Fox News. The daughter of late Senator John McCain and his wife, Cindy, has been an outspoken conservative on a primarily liberal panel.
Over the years, McCain has found herself in heated arguments with several members of the panel, including Behar and Goldberg on more than one occasion. Despite these disputes on the show, McCain has insisted that behind-the-scenes she gets along well with the co-hosts.
"It genuinely hurts my feelings because our dressing rooms are next to each other and you and I have the same emotional reactions to things, sometimes in different ways, but we're both upset the equal amount for the same thing," McCain told Behar during an ET interview in November 2019. "I wish people would give us a break."
In January 2020, McCain also defended Goldberg during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. "If she leaves, I go," McCain said of the longtime co-host. "Whoopi is the anchor of the show."
On Thursday, Goldberg opened up about the late Senator McCain, saying, "It has been quite wonderful to sit across from you. Your dad was very smart. He wanted you to be here with us because I think he thought we could help toughen you up for what was coming which was -- you know, this wonderful baby you are going to have, and his departure. So it was an honor when he said, please take my child."
Behar praised McCain saying, "We have -- you and I have had our disagreements. We have had our fights. We've also had some drinking moments which were rather fun and interesting... We stick by our points of view. You have done that brilliantly for four years. I hope you can say I did the same thing. I really, really appreciated the fact that you were a formidable opponent in many ways and that you spoke your mind and you're no snowflake, missy!"
McCain has long been the sole conservative voice on the panel. In September 2019, the TV personality spoke to ET about why it was important for her to go to work each day.
"Sometimes I'm calm, sometimes I'm not," she said of tackling the controversial topics covered on The View. "I try and remind myself that I'm representing 50 percent of the country. I'm representing a bunch of women even though I only have one chair, and it's really important."
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