Known funny person Michelle Collins will never be on The View—the show she’s co-hosted for just one season—again. Unless, of course, she is elected president at some point in the future (god knows the show will be on the air until the Earth is scorched and lifeless) and appears as a guest. A source tells Page Six the show “would have been happy to have her back” for an official send-off, but that she “understandably wants to focus on other projects.”
News of Collins’s departure was first reported early this month by Variety, and confirmed by Collins Friday afternoon. After word that it was official broke this morning, she indeed did not appear on today’s episode of the show.
In an Instagram post, she wrote:
Well, the news is out: I’m leaving The View. Yes, I’m officially the newest member of the “One Seasoner” club, the latest graduate of talk show boot camp, ending what has been, simply put, the most surreal and fabulous year of my life. I want to say a big thanks to EVERYONE at the show… They’re an incredibly hard-working group of talented people. Special thanks to Whoopi for always having my back and, you know, being an icon. And to all of you: I see your tweets, I see your messages, and I’m sending you all the heart emojis. Many exciting things await, can’t wait to share everything with you!
If read aloud, Collins’s statement comes across as wholly professional and uncontroversial. But if examined a little more closely—pay attention to that all-caps EVERYONE, that ellipsis, that mention of Whoopi having her back—it’s easy to sense faint glimmers of all that behind-the-scenes drama (some of which involved Collins herself) that has defined The View since its debut nearly 20 years ago.
We can’t wait to see what she does next.
Image via Getty.
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