‘The Right Decision for Me’: Meghan McCain Announces Departure From The View, Shares Heartfelt Moment With Co-Hosts

Meghan McCain addressed reports that she is leaving as co-host of The View Thursday morning.

Whoopi Goldberg opened the show by throwing directly to McCain, who replied, “I’m just going to rip the band-aid off. I am here to tell all of you, my wonderful co-hosts, and the viewers at home that this is going to be my last season here at The View.”

“I will be here through the end of July to finish out the season with all of you, which I am grateful for,” she continued. “This was not an easy decision. It took a lot of thought and counsel and prayer and talking to my family and my close friends.”

She then referenced Covid-19 and how working from home influenced her decision.

“I came to the D.C. area, which is where my husband and I have always split time, and it’s where I grew up splitting time, and we have this incredible life here,” she explained. “We’re surrounded by my family, his family, by friends, by this incredible support unit and as any new mom knows, when I think about where I want [daughter] Liberty to have her first steps and her first words, I just have this really wonderful life here that ultimately I felt like I didn’t want to leave.”

Following McCain’s announcement Goldberg, Sunny Hostin, Sara Haines took turns lauding McCain’s contribution to the show. McCain then offered to Joy Behar, “I will miss you too… I wish nothing but the best for all of you.”

Behar replied, “You and I have had our disagreements. We have had our fights. We’ve also had some drinking moments, which were rather fun and interesting.”

McCain took a shot at media coverage of The View before going to break, saying, “The media needs to do a better job of covering the women on this show. We are covered with deep misogyny and sexism by the media.”

She added, “If five men were doing what we do every day, I believe we would have a Pulitzer prize at this point, and it’s always reduced to, you know, really reductive coverage, and I implore the media to do better as they cover the rest of you going forward.”

The Daily Mail first broke the news that McCain would be leaving, which both Variety and Axios later confirmed.

McCain’s departure leaves a rather gaping and difficult-to-fill hole in The View’s panel, as her daily spats with the more progressive hosts provided the vast majority of the daytime talk show’s most entertaining and viral moments.

Watch above via ABC.