“The View” began its next year of shows on Monday by paying tribute to the woman who started it all: Barbara Walters. After her death Friday at 93, the hosts of the show remembered their colleague as “the original role model.”
“If not for her, I don’t know where most of us would be,” Whoopi said to kick off the show.
Walters created the talk show back in 1997, explaining in its original opening credits that she’d always wanted to do “a show with women of different generations, backgrounds and views.” Walters served as a co-host on the show until 2014, making Whoopi and Joy Behar the only current hosts to have worked with her on the show.
During her final show in 2014, Walters’ co-hosts brought out a long line of female journalists, all thanking Walters for paving the way for them. On Tuesday, the hosts recounted their memories of her, both professionally and personally, remembering just how hard-working she was.
“She very much defied sexism and she defied ageism,” Behar said. “She went right into the jaws of the lion.”
Behar added, “She had no mentors or role models, because she was the original role model for everybody else. So we have to give the woman a lot of credit. She was not just a friend to us, but she was really one of a kind and very important to the industry.”
As the show continued, previous hosts of “The View” joined in, appearing in person, via phone and via Zoom. Special appearances included Meredith Viera, Star Jones and more.