Star Jones Reynolds: 'I Was Fired'

[gldstwmn]

http://people.aol.com/people/article...208160,00.html

Star Jones Reynolds announced Tuesday morning on The View that she'll be leaving the show in July after nine years as a cohost.

"Something's been on my heart for a little bit, and after much prayer and counsel I feel like this is the right time to tell you that the show is moving in another direction for its tenth season and I will not be returning as cohost next year," she said on the air.

"That's shocking to me," interrupted Joy Behar, prompting Jones Reynolds to link hands with her cohosts.

Thanking the show's creator, Barbara Walters, "for giving me the opportunity of a lifetime," Jones Reynolds concluded by saying, "I'm not sure what the future holds, but I'm absolutely sure who holds the future."

After some discussion, Walters said, "It is a new chapter for Star. It will be a new chapter for The View in the fall."

So why is Jones Reynolds leaving? Contrary to speculation that she's unhappy about the upcoming addition of Rosie O'Donnell – one of her most vocal critics – to the show this fall, she reveals exclusively in this week's PEOPLE magazine that the departure was not her choice.

"What you don't know is that my contract was not renewed for the tenth season," she tells PEOPLE. "I feel like I was fired." She adds that she was told her contract wouldn't be renewed just days before news leaked that O'Donnell would be joining The View.

Jones Reynolds, 44, was part of the original lineup with Meredith Vieira (who has already departed to replace Katie Couric on the Today show), Behar and Walters.

[DavidMn]

I dont know. From what I understand, her and Rosie were NOT exactly buddies.

[macfanken]

That's too bad, I was looking forward to the Star vs Rosie smackdown!

[DavidMn]

Originally Posted by macfanken

That's too bad, I was looking forward to the Star vs Rosie smackdown!

Yes, that would be interesting indeed.

[skcin]

Jones Reynolds concluded by saying, "I'm not sure what the future holds, but I'm absolutely sure who holds the future."

Does she mean God? Or Barbara Walters?

I don't care if she leaves, she bugs.

[DavidMn]

Originally Posted by skcin

Does she mean God? Or Barbara Walters?

I don't care if she leaves, she bugs.

Those stories about her over the top wedding really bothered me too.

[goldie]

Originally Posted by skcin

Does she mean God? Or Barbara Walters?

I don't care if she leaves, she bugs.

I'm with you, Paula, I really didn't care for Star ..... or Rosie for that matter. And actually, I don't like Meredith Viera all that much, either.

[chiliD]

Originally Posted by skcin

Does she mean God? Or Barbara Walters?

There's a difference?

[GODDESS6]

Originally Posted by skcin

Does she mean God? Or Barbara Walters?

I don't care if she leaves, she bugs.

she so bugs me too, see ya star, can't wait for the fall & rosie!!!~

[CelticGypsy]

I am glad Star is not coming back to the show next Fall. I hope she packs that Elisabeth H. in her make-up bag as she gets kicked to the curb on her last day of work.

[irishgrl]

Originally Posted by CelticGypsy

I am glad Star is not coming back to the show next Fall. I hope she packs that Elisabeth H. in her make-up bag as she gets kicked to the curb on her last day of work.

Even tho I dont watch the show, Im with YEW! Star's a phony

[SuzeQuze]

Yeah, she's horrible, about as deep as a kiddie pool. Good riddance.

[skcin]

Oooooh, this is getting good.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/0....ap/index.html

Walters 'betrayed' by Reynolds' announcement
'The View' undergoing changes

Wednesday, June 28, 2006; Posted: 10:13 a.m. EDT (14:13 GMT)


NEW YORK (AP) -- The gloves are off for the women on "The View."

Creator Barbara Walters said she was "betrayed" by Star Jones Reynolds' surprise on-air announcement of her exit from the daytime talk show Tuesday. Reynolds said in a magazine interview she felt she was fired.

Either way, the "help wanted" sign is up again at the show, months after it was announced that Rosie O'Donnell was replacing Meredith Vieira in the fall.

Reynolds' exit had been rumored for months, intensifying Tuesday after reports on "Access Hollywood" and in the New York tabloids that an announcement would be coming soon.

Still, Walters said she was taken by complete surprise when Reynolds announced her departure after the first commercial break on Tuesday. The announcement had been planned for Thursday, she said.

(Reynolds will appear on CNN's "Larry King Live" Thursday to talk about the changes.)

"I love Star and I was trying to do everything I possibly could -- up until this morning when I was betrayed -- to protect her," Walters told The Associated Press. Walters also said she wasn't aware until she got off the air of Reynolds' People magazine interview. Reynolds, one of the original cast members when the show started nine years ago, said: "I feel like I was fired."

That seems to be the case. Walters said ABC network chiefs had decided last fall not to renew Reynolds' contract because its research showed that Reynolds' dramatic weight loss and 2004 wedding to banker Al Reynolds had turned viewers off. Reynolds had been criticized for a Web site that promoted companies that donated items for the wedding party's gift bags.

"We tried to talk them out of it," Walters said, "and we tried to give Star time to redeem herself in the eyes of the audience, and the research just kept getting worse."
Reynolds' spokesman, Brad Zeifman, said the announcement had always been planned for this week. Because of all the speculation, Reynolds was compelled to tell viewers, he said.

He said he finds the notion that viewers were turned off by talk of her wedding "surprising," given that some of the top-rated shows in 2004 were related to her wedding and engagement. Reynolds' recent book in which she discussed her weight loss was a best-seller, he said.

Walters said Reynolds had known for several months that she would not be coming back, before Vieira's announcement in April that she was leaving.

"I would have loved for Star to have left and not said 'I was fired,' and not make it look like the program was somehow being cruel to her," she said.

O'Donnell's hiring had nothing to do with the decision, she said. That April announcement had led to widespread speculation over whether O'Donnell and Reynolds could co-exist. O'Donnell had made several caustic remarks about Reynolds, saying that it was dishonest for her to talk about losing more than 100 pounds through diet and exercise without talking about gastric bypass surgery.

On the show Tuesday, Reynolds told the audience that "The View" had decided to move in a new direction.

"I'm not sure what the future holds," she said. "But I'm absolutely sure who holds the future."

Comic Joy Behar looked like she was shocked.

"Who am I going to fight with?" Behar said.

Reynolds replied: "Something tells me you will have somebody to fight with."

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[vermicious knid]

I have the TV on right now. I want to see Star get her ass beaten.

[DavidMn]

I agree with Rosie BTW with regards to how Star says she lost all that weight.