Nicolle Wallace confirms 'View' departure on last live show
After reports that she would be exiting The View at the end of this season, co-host Nicolle Wallace confirmed that she's leaving on Thursday's show, the last live episode of The View's current season.
"I never thought i would get this job in a million years. I was more surprised to get it than I would have been to not get it," Wallace said. "I would have been more surprised if they'd kept me around because I am the original political nerd. I have loved being a part of this table. I have loved sitting in this chair -; it was never mine but I'm lucky I got to occupy it for a little bit."
Before Wallace took a few minutes to talk about her time on the show and say her goodbyes, moderator Whoopi Goldberg indicated she wasn't happy about Wallace's exit and she wasn't involved in that decision.
"My friend Nicolle is leaving our show. You have to ask ABC why," Goldberg said. "I can't tell you; I don't know."
PHOTOS: See the 2015 Cast of 'The View'
Wallace, who seemed to have developed a strong rapport with Goldberg, repeated what she'd previously told her co-host, "I've fallen in love at first sight with three people: my husband, my son and Whoopi Goldberg." She said Goldberg and fellow departing co-host Rosie Perez, who wasn't on Thursday's show, are "two of the loves of my life." Wallace also addressed new co-hosts Raven-Symone and Michelle Collins, who were both hired over the summer. She told Raven-Symone: "I love you to death, and I think what you say about politics is so spot on because it's true and it's not just your truth it's true for a lot of people in your generation. So keep talking about politics. Don't let anyone tell you people don't want to hear it." To Collins, Wallace said: "You are such a star and I'm so sad I don't get to sit next to you." The former White House communications director and John McCain adviser also thanked the show's producers, crew and hair, makeup and wardrobe team, whom she said "perform miracles." "I will never look like this again," she said.
At the end of the show, Goldberg told Wallace to stay put while the rest of the co-hosts walked offstage and into the audience, where they turned and applauded her.
The View will air pre-taped episodes next week including a farewell show for Perez, who is also leaving the ABC daytime show at the end of this season.
With Wallace and Perez's departure, The View is losing all of the co-hosts it added at the beginning of this season in a massive overhaul. Rosie O'Donnell, who returned to the show this season, left in February.
Goldberg, Collins and Raven-Symone are all set to return next season.
The View's 19th season is set to begin in September. Former co-host Sherri Shepherd, Candace Cameron Bure and Good Morning America weekend co-anchor Paula Faris are all in talks to join the show.
More From The Hollywood Reporter:
Fox Chiefs on 'Prison Break' Revival, 'Empire' Impact and Planned Turnaround
