This Drama From The View Shows How Intense The Talk Show Really Gets

Old drama from The View has resurfaced, thanks to a 2006 recording of Elisabeth Hasselbeck going off on Barbara Walters.

During a decade on The View, now-retired conservative host and former Survivor contestant Hasselbeck often butted heads with her more liberal-leaning co-stars, including Barbara Walters. She was allegedly fired from the program before joining Fox & Friends. Now, thanks to audio from behind-the-scenes of The View, it's clear that one of these tense conversations nearly caused Hasselbeck to quit the series.

During an on-air conversation about Plan B, Hasselbeck got particularly passionate, likening the emergency contraception to abortion. In fact, the two are vastly different, as emergency contraception stops fertilization, which could eventually create a fetus, from occurring in the first place.

Walters cut Hasselbeck off by saying that "we have to learn how to discuss these things in some sort of rational way." Feeling slighted by the interruption, Hasselbeck appeared to consider not coming back to the show following the commercial break.

Hasselbeck can be heard saying in the behind-the-scenes audio, shared by Variety, "This woman is driving me nuts. I’m not going back. I can’t do the show like this. She just reprimanded me, and she knew exactly what she was doing. Goodbye! I’m off. Write about that in the New York fucking Post!"

Eventually, producers persuaded Hasselbeck to return to the show, where she sat next to Walters and all seemed to be forgiven.

You can listen to the audio below.

In an Instagram post published Friday, Hasselbeck defended her emotional response and apologized for her use of profanities.

"I was pregnant with Taylor and a big conversation about the value and the lives of the unborn took place at The View. It was a battle — but not of the flesh. I used fighting words because I believe that God decides the value of the lives of babies," wrote Hasselbeck. "And in the heat of the moment, when I felt the need to protect what I knew to be truth and had seen with my own eyes on ultrasound the LIFE in my own shell of a body, I used big battle words (one in particular that I am not proud of and am sorry for using in the heat of trying to defend the lives of the unborn)."

She added, "I still hold all my Constitutionally protected rights to freedom of faith, but now I can hold the hand of the person who does not agree at the same time because I believe that we can do that by His grace....In my weakness I am made strong. My new word that begins with the letter F: FAITHFUL Because that is who GOD IS."

The story of the 2006 incident is further detailed in Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of The View, by Variety‘s Ramin Setoodeh. The book also features an interview with host Rosie O'Donnell, who apparently offended Hasselbeck by saying that Hasselbeck's athletic ability suggested "lesbian undertones."

"Suggesting that female athletes, because of their athletic gifts, grit, eye black, how tough they are, must be a little bit gay? That's just not true," said Hasselbeck in an interview with Fox & Friends.

Clearly, the drama with the women of The View doesn't end when the cameras stop rolling.