If you ask “The View”‘s ex-co-host Sherri Shepherd, Barbara Walters and Richard Pryor had a thing going on.
As TMZ reported, Shepherd recounted being told by the late comedian Paul Mooney that he walked in on the pair having a moment together. The daytime talk show host revealed that she’d asked Joy Behar, another host on “The View,” to keep the information between them, but the pair ended up going directly to Walters and asking her about her fling with Pryor.
Shepherd, who started her own daytime talk show, “Sherri,” in 2022, had Behar on a guest on Oct. 11, and the two went down memory lane. Shepherd said, “I came back, and I was like, ‘Joy, guess what!’ When you talk like that, you know it’s ‘don’t tell nobody.’ I came, and I told you, and I said, ‘[Comedian] Paul Mooney said he caught Barbara with Richard Pryor. He walked in on them.’ And then I was like, ‘Don’t tell nobody.’”
The only affair Walters admitted to in her memoir, Audition: A Memoir, was with Sen. Edward Brooke of Massachusetts in the 1970s. However, the two women noticed how much Walters seemed to enjoy interacting with Colin Powell when he was a guest on “The View.”
Behar leveled with Shepherd, eventually telling her about the late Walters’ taste in men. “Between you and me, Barbara liked a brother. She was going out with a Black senator — is this gonna be on television?” Behar quipped, to which Shepherd replied, “You used to always say Barbara loved a chocolate man.” The two were on “The View” together from 2007-2014, with the 81-year-old Behar starting her stint back in 1997.
About Walters’ admiration of Colin Powell, Shepherd remarked, “She loved Colin Powell. Colin Powell was her crush. Every time Colin Powell came on, Barbara was all the way over here, all the way over here.” Behar chimed in, “It’s true, it’s true, she loved a brother.”
Shepherd replied, “You know what,” before having a fit of laughter and thanking Behar for being the inspiration behind Shepherd’s lounge setup on her show before stating her admiration that Joy left “The View” and then returned once the showrunners begged her to come back.
“The View” recently made news as one of the daytime talk shows returning during the strike negotiations. Talk shows were under a different contract than film and other television work, so SAG-AFTRA members were permitted and encouraged to work on those productions.
Three weeks ago, Shepherd had to halt her show, according to Variety, because she had contracted COVID-19.
The show released a statement: “Unfortunately, Sherri has tested positive for COVID. The show will return with original episodes as soon as possible. For the remainder of this week, encore episodes from the beginning of the premiere week will air. The health of our host and entire staff is of the utmost importance.”
Shepherd herself said, “I am absolutely heartbroken that I cannot return to host my show this week.”
“As soon as I get the all-clear from my doctor, I look forward to returning strong to deliver the fun, laughter, and a real good time.”
