March 26, 2019
Watch: Elisabeth Hasselbeck Reacts to Rosie O'Donnell Revealing She had a Crush on Her
READ TIME: 2 MIN.
Former cohost of "The View" Elisabeth Hasselbeck appeared on "Fox & Friends" Tuesday and reacted to news that her cohost Rosie O'Donnell once had a crush on her.
Variety reports O'Donnell's revelation appears in Ramin Setoodeh's book "Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of The View." Despite having an on-air feud while they hosted, the comedian apparently felt a bit differently about the former "Survivor" star.
"I loved her. Here's what I said, 'I'm the senior. She's the freshman. I've got a really good player on the freshman team, but I have to teach her how to loosen up,'" O'Donnell said.
She added:
"I think there were underlying lesbian undertones on both parts. I think this is something that will hurt her if you write it. She was the MVP of a Division 1 softball team for two years that won the finals. There are not many, in my life, girls with such athletic talent on sports teams that are traditionally male that aren't at least a little bit gay. There was a little bit of a crush. But not that I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to support, raise, elevate her, like she was the freshman star shortstop and I was the captain of the team. I was going to Scottie Pippen her. If I was Jordan, I was going to give her and the ball and let her shoot. But it was in no way sexualized."
One of their most notorious heated moments came when Hasselbeck would not defend O'Donnell from Republicans critics.
"It felt like a lover breaking up," O'Donnell said in the book. "The fight that we had, to me as a gay woman, it felt like this: 'You don't love me as much as I love you.' 'I've taken care of you.' 'You have not.' 'How could you do that to me?' 'I didn't do anything to you.' "
While on "Fox & Friends," Hasselbeck responded to O'Donnell's remarks.
"I read it, and I immediately started praying," she said. "If you took her words and you replaced 'Rosie' for 'Ronald,' there would be an objectification of women in the workplace, so that is disturbing and it's wrong.
"Whether you're a man or a woman and you're objectifying a woman in the workplace, it's wrong," she continued, later adding, ""It was disturbing to read those things, and it was offensive to me, but I forgive her. I totally forgive you, Rosie."
Watch Hasselbeck on the show below.
