And Hasselbeck’s…not happy about it.
Rose DommuElisabeth Hasselbeck and Rosie O’Donnell may be some of daytime television’s most enduring frenemies thanks to their legendary on-air blow up during their time as co-hosts of The View. But the label of “frenemies” gets a little complicated after O’Donnell’s recent revelation that she had a crush on her co-star when they worked together, something the god-fearing blonde is not happy about.
O’Donnell took Meredith Viera’s seat on The View in 2006 and immediately clashed with her conservative co-host, but in the new book Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of The View, the actress says that despite the on-air drama, “there was a little bit of a crush.”
It wasn’t a romantic crush, O’Donnell explains. “[It wasn’t] that I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to support, raise, elevate her, like she was the freshman star shortstop and I was the captain of the team.”
Taking the metaphor further, O’Donnell joked that “there were underlying lesbian undertones on both parts,” referring to Hasselbeck’s experience as a softball player. “There are not many, in my life, girls with such athletic talent on sports teams that are traditionally male that aren’t at least a little bit gay,” she added.
And of course, Hasselbeck took these comments in the humorous context they were made and gave an equally lighthearted response. Of course that’s what happened, why would you ever think otherwise?
Psych! “It was disturbing to read those things and it was offensive to me,” Hasselbeck said during an appearance on the notoriously even-keeled Fox & Friends. Hasselbeck claimed that had a man made the same comments, it would be seen as “objectification of women in the workplace.” Which would be true if O’Donnell hadn’t immediately clarified that her “crush” was friendly and supportive rather than sexual.
“That is disturbing and it’s wrong. And whether you’re a man or whether you’re a woman, and you’re objectifying women in the workplace, it’s wrong,” said Hasselbeck.
But, saint that she is, Hasselbeck said she forgives her former coworker. “I really hope that we can be at peace and that we can both hold our beliefs in one hand and hold each other’s hand in the other and still have a relationship that’s at peace. But, more than that, just like I would pray for my friends, I hope that she has the peace of God,” said Hasselbeck.
“Because Rosie O’Donnell is still seen and known and loved by God, and I hope that she feels that and I hope that she can find, ultimately, the peace. Even more than I want to be at peace with her, I hope she finds that peace because God wants that for her too,” she said.
O’Donnell clarified again on Twitter that her “crush” on Hasselbeck wasn’t romantic and that she still values their former friendship.
Straight women, amirite?
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Rosie O’Donnell Had a Crush on Elisabeth Hasselbeck on The View
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