Cheryl Hines reflected on her tense appearance on “The View” on the “Hot Mics With Billy Bush” podcast Monday, admitting that the hosts’ combative approach to her time at the table didn’t take her by surprise.
Bush asked the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” actress if Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, Sarah Haines and Alyssa Farah Griffin were what she expected — to which Hines emphatically said, “Mhmm.”
Hines went on the show Oct. 14 in promotion of her memoir “Unscripted,” but the actress said that she did not field a single question from the panel about her book.
“I was hoping that it was going to be more personal on ‘The View,’” she said. “They just wanted to grill me about Bobby [her husband Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]”
“Unscripted,” which will be released Nov. 11, documents her journey of blending families with Kennedy, silly anecdotes from the “Curb” set and her advocacy work for cerebral palsy, inspired by her nephew Michael.
“Can you tell when someone hasn’t read your book?” Bush asked the actress.
“Yes,” she said. “I don’t think the ladies on ‘The View’ asked me one question about the book.”
Watch a clip from the podcast below:
On Hines’ appearance on the talk show, the panel asked her about her husband RFK Jr’s politics and experience as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Co-host Joy Behar said she met with the actress before her appearance to ease her nerves.
The interview got particularly heated between Hines and Hostin. The host called out Kennedy as the least qualified Secretary of Health in history, arguing that Kennedy has no scientific or medical background. Hines pushed back by noting that one of President Barack Obama’s Secretaries of HHS was an economist. When Hostin interrupted Hines during that same back-and-forth, the actress responded, “May I finish?”
Throughout the conversation, the ABC hosts conceded that Hines should not have to take responsibility for her husband’s actions, with moderator Goldberg saying at one point that “this is not your fight, really, to be fighting,”
A representative for Hines called the appearance a success despite the in-fighting between the panel. “The View” is no stranger to heated discussions, often surrounding culture and politics.
“Cheryl engaged with respect and class, in light of them asking her repeatedly to defend her husband, which by the way was not the purpose of her appearance, it was to discuss her new memoir ‘Unscripted,’” a representative for the actress wrote. “She was completely unbothered, as one would have to be living in a cave to think they wouldn’t make Bobby the primary focus. We still consider the appearance a success in spite of this.”
