Meghan McCain, the lone conservative voice on The View for the last four seasons, has announced she will be leaving the show.
According to the Daily Mail, the news source that broke the story, McCain informed her co-hosts on today’s episode of The View.
“We have tried to keep her, but she is adamant that now is the right time for her to leave,” a source from ABC News’ parent company, Disney, told the Daily Mail. She will finish out the month with two years left on her contract.
Previous conservative voices featured on the program included Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Candace Cameron Bure. McCain reluctantly joined the talk show in 2017, at her father’s prompting. Her contrasting opinions often caused a ruckus with co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin and Sara Haines.
McCain took maternity leave in 2020 following the birth of her daughter, Liberty, and upon her return, Behar remarked, “I did not miss you.”
When many on-air conversations became heated, McCain often had to remind herself of the unique opinions she was offering.
“I try to just remind myself that I’m representing 50 percent of the country,” McCain said of her role on the show in 2019.
“I’m representing a bunch of women even though I only have one chair, and it’s really important,” she said.
That same year, however, reports circulated that her departure from the show could come sooner rather than later, as many hostile instances left her feeling “exhausted.”
“This was not an easy decision,” McCain said at the top of the show Thursday. “It took a lot of thought and counsel and prayer and talking to my family and my co-stars.”
She spent her nearly eight-minute announcement recounting how much COVID-19 changed her perspective on life, and as a new mother, thoughts on what kind of life she wanted to raise her daughter. She called The View one of the “most exhilarating, wonderful privileges” of her life, saying it’s at the top of the “amazing experiences” she’d had.
Haines commended McCain for being able to “see the light and beauty and positivity of everything,” which, she admits, is not a “gift” she has. She continued, “Even in the most intense situations on this show, you can always bring levity and in life in general, and you’re just like this ball of light.”
The source of McCain’s fiercest opposition on the show, Behar, applauded the 36-year-old for being a “formidable opponent” who always spoke her mind. {eoa}
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