Meghan McCain reveals the incident with Joy Behar that made her quit The View

Meghan McCain is opening up about why she really quit The View — and alleging the show is a toxic work environment.

In her new book, McCain writes that she left The View earlier this year because the "way I'd been treated on the show as the resident conservative" had "made it impossible for me to stay," and she describes one "heartbreaking experience" as the last straw, per Variety. Shortly after returning from maternity leave, she got into an on-air argument with co-host Joy Behar, and McCain recalls trying to "ease the tension" by saying, "Joy, you missed me so much when I was on maternity leave!" Behar, though, shot back, "I did not. I did not miss you. Zero."

The moment went viral, and McCain says it "triggered my postpartum anxiety," writing that she burst into "uncontrollable sobbing" during a commercial break and later threw up in her office.

"I can't explain it further other than I felt like in that moment I took a look at my life outside of myself and I thought clearly — this s--t isn't worth this," she writes, also telling Variety "that was the day I decided" to quit.

McCain also writes that it was "difficult to manage" co-host Whoopi Goldberg's "open disdain for me," and she says she grew paranoid that "any interaction I had could be sold to the press or become fodder." More broadly, she describes The View as a "toxic work environment," alleging HR reports "fall on deaf ears" and that "the women and the staff are working under conditions where the culture is so f---ed up, it feels like quicksand." In an interview with Variety, McCain compared the situation to The Ellen DeGeneres Show's toxic workplace scandal, saying she told ABC News' president in an exit interview, "You got to change the culture on the show or the culture is going to change you, Ellen style."

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