The View Alum Sherri Shepherd Reacts to Jenny McCarthy's Criticism of 'Terrifying' Talk Show

Sherri Shepherd is opening up about her former The View co-host Jenny McCarthy's recent statements about returning to the panel talk show over her own "dead body."

via: EW

Former The View cohost Sherri Shepherd has weighed in on her longtime friend and fellow ex-View panelist Jenny McCarthy's recent assertion that she'd only return to the Hot Topics table over her own "dead body."

In Entertainment Weekly's exclusive clip below from Thursday's Sherri talk show broadcast (airing at different times in syndication), Shepherd reflects on her time cohosting The View with McCarthy, the 1994 Playboy Playmate of the Year and actress who sat at the panel for one season between 2013 and 2014.

McCarthy opened up about her struggle on the show in a new podcast interview, where she lamented that the show hired her to speak about lighter topics on the air, but quickly pivoted to discussing politics and hard-hitting matters that threw her for a loop.

"It's no secret Jenny McCarthy hated being on The View," Shepherd says in EW's clip. "I remember the day they switched it to politics, Jenny came into my dressing room just like that. She goes, 'Sherri, oh my God, what am I gonna do?' And I looked at her, I said, 'What are you gonna do? What are we gonna do!'"

Shepherd maintains that "everything that Jenny is saying is absolutely true," and that she "felt really bad for my friend, because they did — they brought her on the show after a lot of focus groups said they wanted less fighting about politics. They wanted it to be more chill and more fun."

The 30 Rock actress remembers that McCarthy registered as "light," "funny," and "sexy," but that "the focus groups changed their minds" about bringing politics back to the forefront of Hot Topics chatter.

"Two weeks later, they had the girl wearing glasses, and I looked over and said, 'What the hell are you wearing glasses for?' She was like, 'Sherri, they want me to look like I know politics,'" Shepherd recalls. "I was sitting there and I said, 'How do you have Playmate of the Year looking conservative?' They'd try to make Jenny look conservative, but all she looked like was a sexy librarian."

To liven things up, Shepherd says she even suggested that she and McCarthy "go topless" on the air at one point — which they did, though she made sure that co-creator "Barbara Walters was not there that day, because she would've had a fit," the 58-year-old remembers.

Later, Shepherd, who joined The View in 2007, says she "had the same problem as Jenny, because when I came on the show, they wanted someone light, they wanted a person who was a mother, to talk about being single, being a mother, it was supposed to be very light."

"But then, Barack Obama ran for president, and politics was all we talked about," recalls Shepherd, who adds that, because she grew up in a strict religion, she didn't even vote in her early adult life, and that the religion hindered her understanding of the wider world around her.

One day, she says, Walters even told her, "Dear, read a book," and that the experience of adjusting to being well-versed in topics she didn't normally discuss was a daunting task for her at first.

"Even though it was hard for me, I had the best time on The View. It was one of the best, hardest, most terrifying, most crying-filled experiences, but I loved it, and I'm friends for life with the women that I sat with at that table," says Shepherd, calling the legacy of cohosts "a sisterhood" as she singles out steadfast friends like current cohosts Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg, as well as former panelist Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

"They protected me, they went to bat for me. It was my first time doing politics. I made a lot of flubs. Remember when they asked me, 'Sherri, do you know if the earth is round or flat?'" Shepherd asks, referencing a memorable moment that saw her admit on the live broadcast that she's never really considered whether or not the Earth was flat or spherical.

Shepherd admits she "zoned out" in the moment, and that she "wasn't there" mentally.

"I used to make so many flubs, but those ladies, every time, they protected me, they never let anybody talk about me. I love them so much over at The View. I do know what it's like. I feel bad that Jenny went through all of that. She felt like it was a bait and switch," she finishes, before celebrating the fact that "now, we're lifelong friends because we were on The View together."

Earlier this week on the Katie Miller Podcast, McCarthy fielded a question about whether or not she thinks she'd be welcome back to the Hot Topics table as someone who has alternative views on healthcare (she's been described as anti-vaccination by others in the past, though she's resisted that label) and politics.

McCarthy said that "getting through that year was really difficult" due to the breakneck shift in topical coverage between what she says she was hired to do and what the show ended up asking of her on the air.

She continued, saying that "our latest [presidential] administration has helped so much" with her confidence in expressing her admittedly polarizing opinions today.

"But, back then? Ooh, I would not, I would never even," she noted, explaining that "[The View has] asked me to come back for, like, reunion shows. I was like, over my dead body would I ever step foot in that place." (EW has reached out to a representative for The View for comment.)

Sherri airs weekdays in syndication. Check your local listings for showtimes in your area.