Overview
- The View opened its Wednesday show with an empty chair that co-hosts noted without detail, and Joy Behar told the audience “she’s not sick,” which drew attention and viewer speculation.
- Haines returned on Thursday and said her father-in-law, who had been in hospice for a week, died, and she learned of his death just before Wednesday’s broadcast.
- She said the timing forced her to leave immediately and that she wanted to “quell any rumors” about why she missed the live show.
- On Thursday Haines and her colleagues exchanged emotional and light moments on air, with Haines criticizing Behar’s earlier phrasing and the panel visibly offering support.
- The show’s short-term lineup will also change while Whoopi Goldberg takes a confirmed two-week leave to film the movie Women Like Us, and Haines’s quick return follows earlier, unrelated absences this year that have made unplanned gaps in the rotation more noticeable.