Kathy Griffin has claimed that the legendary creator of The View left her with “bruises” after several of her guest appearances on the morning show.
The Emmy-winning comedian alleged that Barbara Walters kicked her “under the table” during Griffin’s guest stints on the talk show’s Hot Topics table.
“Barbara Walters, the late great who I adored, did not care for me,” Griffin told Page Six in a new interview. “And so she kicked me under the table, and I used to leave that show with bruises.”
Griffin, who served as a co-host for five months in 2007, said that she was “proud” of the alleged marks.
“I would show my friends. I’d be like, ‘You guys, I have to show you a bruise!” she said, jokingly adding that Walters was “heavily into BDSM.”
The Trump nemesis has a checkered history with The View. She made dozens of appearances as a guest host in the mid 2000s, later taking on a brief stint as co-host on the ABC daytime show. But later, Griffin said she was banned from the series several times.
The 65-year-old comedian also claimed she was offered a permanent hosting position on the show, with a hefty salary of over $1 million. However, Griffin turned the proposition down, adding that Walters, who died in 2022 at 93, “did not like that one bit.”
“I had to turn down The View because I would have had to uproot my whole life,” she said on an episode of her YouTube show, referring to her life in Los Angeles and her caretaking duties for her parents.
Griffin later spoke of her admiration for Walters, saying that she and the late journalist had “chemistry.” She also said, “To this day, The View is one of the most buzz-worthy shows on television or anywhere.”
Other View alumni have spoken about Walters’s legacy and impact. The Emmy Award-winning TV host died in 2022, at the age of 93.
The View co-host Sherri Shepherd opened up about her experience with Walters on the Daily Beast’s Last Laugh podcast, calling her a “big mentor” and “instrumental” to her career and confidence. But Shepherd added, “She was tough on me. She was really, really tough on me.”
The 59-year-old actress and host said that Walters would often make her cry, but she became grateful for her in later years.
“As I moved forward, I saw that my confidence came from Barbara,” Shepherd said. “I’m not afraid to say no, that came from Barbara. And it really hit home when I found out that she had passed, all the nuggets that I got to have and that I got to be around her for seven seasons.”
