Meghan McCain exits 'The View': 'I just feel like it's the right decision for me'

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Meghan McCain confirmed reports she's leaving The View. McCain has been the conservative commentator on the show for four years, often getting into fiery debates with her co-stars. But there was nothing but respect across the panel as she made her announcement at the top of Thursday's show.

"I'm just going to rip the bandaid off," McCain began. "This is going to be my last season here at The View... It is not easy to leave, I just feel like it's the right decision for me."

McCain will finish out Season 24 alongside Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin and Sara Haines, which wraps at the end of July. Although her contract wasn't up, per Variety, the television personality said she's making the best decision for her family.

"Look, COVID has changed the world for all of us and it changed the way, at least for me, the way I am looking at life," she shared, explaining that location was a factor in choosing not to return. McCain moved to Washington, D.C. amid the pandemic where she and her husband are raising daughter, Liberty. The View tapes in New York City.

"I have this really wonderful life here that ultimately, I didn't want to leave," she added, but called the show "one of the greatest" privileges of her life.

McCain revealed her father, the late senator John McCain, was who encouraged her to join the ABC talk show.

"He said that I could never give up an opportunity to work on such an iconic show and to work with Whoopi Goldberg — and he was right," she said. "It was one of the last things he told me to do before he died."

Joy Behar, who often sparred with McCain, wished her colleague nothing but the best.

"You and I have had our disagreements," Behar said, noting how they both stuck their necks out for their opposing political views. "I really, really appreciated that you were a formidable opponent in many ways and that you spoke your mind. You're no snowflake, missy."

McCain wrapped up with a parting note to the media.

"The media needs to do a better job of covering the women on this show," McCain declared. "We are covered with deep misogyny and sexism by the media. If five men were doing what we do every day, I really do believe that we'd probably have a Pulitzer Prize at this point. It's always reduced to really reductive coverage. I implore the media to do better as they cover the rest of you going forward."

McCain helped make The View daytime's most-watched talk show during her tenure. It won the 2020 Emmy award for Outstanding Informative Talk Show and became a go-to stop during the 2020 presidential election. McCain is the second longest-running conservative co-host on the program behind Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

"For the past four years, Meghan McCain has brought her fierce determination and vast political knowledge and experience to The View. She recently came to us with her decision to depart the show at the end of this season, a difficult choice that she made for her and her family that we respect and understand," a spokesperson for ABC News tells Yahoo Entertainment. "We wish the best for Meghan as she plans her next chapter, and thank her for the passion and unique voice that she shared with us and our viewers each day."

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