What happened with Rosie O’Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck? Comedian reflects on infamous on-air fight

Rosie O’Donnell recently revisited one of daytime TV’s most infamous clashes.

It was her on-air confrontation with Elisabeth Hasselbeck on The View. During an appearance on the Ricki-Lee, Tim and Joel podcast, Rosie O’Donnell looked back on the tense exchange, which originally aired in May 2007. That episode saw the co-hosts engage in a fiery debate over America’s involvement in the Iraq War. The conversation escalated when Rosie O’Donnell accused Hasselbeck of failing to stand by her after media reports suggested O’Donnell had referred to U.S. troops as “terrorists.”

“You are an adult and I am certainly not going to be the person for you to explain your thoughts; they’re your thoughts!” Hasselbeck replied.

Hasselbeck's reply during the episode, was edited by the producers in a way, where both women were visible, side-by-side on screen. Reflecting on the moment, O’Donnell said:

“It felt to me like I was on a basketball team of five women, and one of them kept tripping me on the way to the hoop.”

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Rosie O’Donnell opens up about friendship and fallout with Elisabeth Hasselbeck after on-air feud:

Rosie O’Donnell also said the confrontation had cut deeper than viewers might have realized, as she believed she and Hasselbeck shared a real friendship at the time.

“I can not believe that this woman, after all I did for her, because when I took that job, I made one commitment to myself, that I was not going to be her enemy, that I was going to meet her as a person,” O’Donnell explained.

She gave a glimpse of their bond off camera, recalling,

“She came to my house; she was in my pool, she brought her little kid. I took her kid to Sesame Street Live; I took her to her first Broadway opening,” she shared.

O’Donnell added that she “bent over backwards for this woman.”

Despite both leaving The View years later, Hasselbeck in 2013 and O’Donnell following in 2015 after her earlier exit in 2007, the tension between them never quite disappeared. When Hasselbeck briefly returned as a guest co-host in 2022, O’Donnell shared on TikTok that she had tuned in but was reminded “why I don’t wanna watch it with her anymore.”

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Rosie O’Donnell says ‘The View’ orchestrated her on-air clash with Elisabeth Hasselbeck

Rosie O’Donnell said she believed her on-air feud with Elisabeth Hasselbeck on The View had been intentionally staged by producers. During her appearance on the Ricki-Lee, Tim and Joel podcast, she shared that the show’s late executive producer Bill Geddie had arranged the moment that became television history.

“Our producer is not an on-the-fly kind of guy, he wasn’t mister like, ‘Let’s go to the split-screen.’ That was prepared,” O’Donnell said. “So, the whole thing, I think, was a setup.”

Geddie, who created the long-running ABC talk show with Barbara Walters, died in 2023 at age 68. His daughter, Allison, told The Hollywood Reporter he passed away at his Rancho Mirage home following a heart-related issue. In a statement, Geddie’s family described him as “an even ‘bigger than life’ husband and dad” and said he “had a genuine love for television and entertainment,” noting his creative interests spanned from music to podcasting.

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Rosie O’Donnell reflects on health, marriage, and stepping back from ‘The View’

As per a report shared by Us Weekly on February 8, 2015, Rosie O’Donnell confirmed stepping away from The View and separation from her then wife Michelle Rounds. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter at the Athena Film Festival , the comedian cited health reasons and personal challenges behind her exit.

“[My health] got a little bit worse right before the holidays — [my doctor] was kind of concerned, I can't really fix [my personal life] right away, but I can fix [my job]. So I spoke to them at ABC, and I told them, and they understood. They've been unbelievably supportive and loving,” she shared.

O’Donnell added that her View colleagues , Whoopi Goldberg, Rosie Perez, and Nicole Wallace, had been understanding.

“Everyone cares about each other — nobody wants to do anything that's going to affect someone's health, so they get it,” she said.

Not only was O’Donnell figuring out her exit from the view but was also facing a personal battle. Back then O’Donnell expanded about her marriage issues with Michelle Rounds. She acknowledged that the separation had been evident for some time.

“All you have to do is go on Instagram, you can see she's not in the house with me. It's been since Thanksgiving... We're separated; we're not living together, and, like most married couples I know, we're trying to figure it out,” she shared.

Through it all, O’Donnell’s honesty about her health, career, and personal life reminds fans that even public figures navigate challenges and change, on their own terms.