Truth rating: 10
12:12 pm, February 22nd, 2012
(GettyImages.com)
Star Jones returned to “The View” on Wednesday, nearly six years after her controversial exit from the show.
Jones, one of the original co-hosts, abruptly left the series in 2006 amidst speculation that her contract wasn’t renewed because she didn’t tell the truth about undergoing gastric bypass surgery and had tried to score wedding freebies through the ABC show.
During her return on Wednesday, Jones was initially reluctant to discuss her departure, but went on to explain, “It was a bad emotional time.”
“I take real responsibility for my own behavior at all times, but I won’t take responsibility if I have not made a decision I can live with,” she said, referring to the producers’ decision to move forward with the show without her.
And so Jones said, “I made the decision that I wanted to go out on my own terms,” which for her apparently meant blindsiding her fellow co-hosts by unexpectedly announcing her exit live on-air.
Barbara Walters pressed Jones about her massive weight loss, and the fact that she wasn’t open with viewers about her dramatic transformation, prompting Jones to say she thought it was a private matter.
“I didn’t feel safe enough to come out and talk about it,” she added.
Jones and Walters have since worked through their differences, primarily bonding over the fact they both underwent open heart surgery in 2010.
“Barbara Walters is the reason I get to do what I do,” Jones said, “and I thank you very much.”
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