Rosie O’Donnell’s suggestion that The View planned to bring back its former co-hosts for Season 30 prompted Michelle Collins to wonder why she had not received an invitation.
O’Donnell said during an appearance on The Tangle with Kyle Ridley podcast that she expected to participate in the milestone season as a guest and believed the show was “bringing back all the hosts.”
Collins, who served as a permanent co-host during Season 19, responded from Milan after learning about O’Donnell’s comments. She said no one from the ABC daytime show had contacted her and jokingly asked whether producers needed her new address.
The apparent snub turned out to be premature. O’Donnell’s representative later said she had not received a formal invitation, while executive producer Brian Teta clarified that no invitations had been sent to former co-hosts.
O’Donnell Said She Expected to Return as a Guest
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“I will go on the 30th anniversary next season,” O’Donnell said during the podcast interview. “I will go in whatever way they want me, but just as a guest.” O’Donnell also said she believed the show planned to revisit its history by inviting former panelists back.
“They’re bringing back all the hosts, I think, for the 30th season,” she said. Her remarks made the plans sound more advanced than they were. A representative for O’Donnell later told Entertainment Weekly that there were “no current plans” for her to appear.
“There was a mention of inviting some of the hosts back to The View as a guest during season 30,” the representative said, adding that “there has not been a formal ask from the show at this time.” The representative said current co-host Ana Navarro had mentioned the possibility of O’Donnell visiting at some point during the season, but “nothing has been formalized.”
Michelle Collins Asked Whether Her Invitation Was Lost
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Collins addressed O’Donnell’s comments in an Instagram video recorded while she was traveling in Milan. “Now that was news to me,” Collins said. “Maybe because I’m traveling so much, my invite somehow got lost. But I’ve not heard from anyone from the show.”
Collins noted that she became a permanent co-host in 2015 and said she had remained publicly respectful after the show did not renew her contract the following year. “When I got unceremoniously let go from the show, I never talked s—, never went public with anything because I thought that was professional,” she said.
“But now I’m starting to think maybe that was dumb. Maybe I should have because all those other people are being asked back.” Collins said she would be interested in returning if the show contacted her. “Right now, TBD, we don’t know,” she said. “But yeah, I would love to hear from them.” She tagged the program in the caption and wrote, “Do you need my new address??”
Teta responded after O’Donnell’s comments and Collins’ video generated speculation about which former co-hosts might participate in the upcoming season. “We love seeing all the excitement about The View’s 30th,” he wrote on X. “Lots of plans are in the works, but no invites have gone out.”
O’Donnell Is Open to a Visit but Not Another Full-Time Run
O’Donnell served two separate periods on The View, first during Season 10 from 2006 to 2007 and again during Season 18 from 2014 to 2015. Her first departure followed a widely publicized on-air argument with Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
O’Donnell has also discussed tensions with Whoopi Goldberg during her second tenure, although she has since said that the two moved beyond their disagreements. In an earlier PEOPLE interview, O’Donnell said returning to the program as a permanent political panelist would not be the best use of her talents.