Whoopi Goldberg Got Emotional Talking About Meghan McCain's Departure From ‘The View’

• After four seasons on The View, Meghan McCain announced that she is leaving the show at the end of the current season.

• Meghan’s final episode is set to air in late July.

• Her four co-hosts—Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin and Sara Haines—chimed in to share their thoughts on Meghan’s exit.

At the top of Thursday’s episode of The View, Meghan McCain announced that she is leaving the show at the end of July. In her on-air announcement, she shared that it wasn’t an “easy decision” to make, but it is “the right decision for me,” revealing her plans to stay in Washington D.C. to raise her daughter with husband Ben Domenech.

Just hours before the show aired, a source exclusively told DailyMail that Meghan planned to announce her exit from the show, claiming that she had left her co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin and Sara Haines in the dark up until now. True or not, the whole panel appeared to be in good spirits on Thursday’s show.

At one point, Meghan brought up how her dad, the late Senator John McCain, convinced her to do the show, telling her that she could “never give up an opportunity to work on such an iconic show and to work with Whoopi Goldberg.” Whoopi went on to share her perspective, saying that it was an honor that he put his trust in the women on this show. “He wanted you to be here with us because I think he thought we could help toughen you up for what was coming, which was this wonderful baby you were going to have and his departure. It was an honor when he said, ‘please take my child.’”

To that point, Sara reflected on how sweet this “full-circle moment” really is for Meghan and her family. “It’s a full-circle moment to know so much of your dad’s words brought you here and yet your calling for your daughter and your family is what takes you away. It’s beautiful.”

Sunny echoed her other co-hosts, revealing that the late senator also spoke to her when Meghan first joined the show four years ago. “He also told me to take it easy on Meghan and that I would learn to love her and understand her and that she would be a pain in the a-- and he was right about all of those things,” she laughed.

Over the course of the show, the two women have really leaned on one another, so much so that Sunny says they “talk every day after the show” and “text during the show.” “I’ll miss those conversations. I think you have a really important point of view and it’s just been wonderful.”

Leave it to Joy to tell it like it is. Joy and Meghan have famously disagreed on the show, often prompting fiery debates and fueling exit rumors. All the while, the two have continuously praised one another’s passions and smarts—and Thursday’s show was no exception. “I have to say, you and I have in common, as do all of us here, that we’re on a show where we stick our necks out, we take the blowback, we take a lot of hits on this show and we stick to our points of view. You have done that brilliantly for four years. I hope you can say that I did the same thing.” She later called her co-host a “formidable opponent,” confirming to Meghan and the viewers at home that she’s “no snowflake.”

Even though Meghan’s future on television remains unclear (to us, at least), Whoopi reminded Meghan that The View has given her a solid foundation that she can take with her wherever she goes. “When you leave here, you can take on anything because everything possible has been fired at you. So, when you leave here, you’re a better person, better woman, better mother, better friend.”

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