Meghan McCain Leaving ‘The View’: ‘This Was Not an Easy Decision’ (VIDEO)

Martin Holmes July 1, 2021, 11:30 am

UPDATE (11:30 a.m. ET):

Meghan McCain confirmed she will be leaving The View during the Thursday, July 1 episode of the ABC talk show.

“This was not an easy decision,” the co-host said. “I’m just eternally grateful to have had this opportunity here so, seriously, thank you from the absolute bottom of my heart.”

.@MeghanMcCain announces her departure from @TheView at the end of the show’s season, saying “this was not an easy decision.”

“I’m just eternally grateful to have had this opportunity here so, seriously, thank you from the absolute bottom of my heart.” https://t.co/ZiP1UTs2xu pic.twitter.com/eLuEAJ4KLT

— The View (@TheView) July 1, 2021

Of her co-hosts, McCain added, “It is a privilege to work alongside such strong, brilliant, intelligent, incredible broadcasters like the four of you. You are the most talented women on all of television hands down and it has been so incredible.”

McCain will conclude her nearly four-year run on the series at the end of July, ahead of the show’s 25th season this fall.

Original Story (9:30 a.m. ET):

Meghan McCain is set to step down from ABC’s The View, according to a report by the Daily Mail.

The conservative columnist and outspoken TV personality, who has served on the daytime talk show for four seasons, is expected to announce her resignation on Thursday’s show. McCain’s co-hosts, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sara Haines, Sunny Hostin and Ana Navarro, are not yet aware of the resignation, a Disney source told the Daily Mail.

“We have tried to keep her, but she is adamant that now is the right time for her to leave,” the source said. “She will finish at the end of July 2021.”

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McCain, who has two years left on her contract, joined The View in October 2017. Prior to that, the daughter of the late Senator John McCain and businesswoman Cindy McCain had been a writer for The Daily Beast before joining MSNBC as an analyst and later co-hosting the afternoon talk program Outnumbered on the Fox News Channel.

She is also a New York Times best-selling author, having published three books, including My Dad, John McCain in 2008, Dirty Sexy Politics in 2012, and America, You Sexy Bitch: A Love Letter to Freedom with comedian Michael Ian Black in 2012.

On Wednesday’s episode of The View, McCain called out Vogue magazine for not putting Melania Trump on its cover. “I was not a fan, obviously, of the Trump family and I was not a fan of Melania Trump’s. But no one can negate the fact that she was a fashionable first lady,” McCain argued. “So if your magazine is just about fashion, you should have put her on the cover.”

ABC and McCain have yet to comment on the report.