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"There were some tough days, and there were some executives here at the time and people here at the time who made too many of my days too difficult."
Abby Huntsman returned "The View" on Friday, where she called out former executives on the show for making her life "difficult," while also appearing to throw some subtle shade at former co-host Meghan McCain.
On Friday's episode of the "The View," the TV personality -- who was a co-host on the ABC talk show from 2018 to 2020 -- shared her feelings about being back on the panel for the day and alluded to her recent remarks in which cited the "The View's" alleged "toxic" work environment as the reason behind her departure.
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View Story"It's fun to be back. I do miss so much of the show," began Huntsman, 35. "I've opened up more about why I left and when it happened. The problem with media today is it is so black and white. I'm a very nuanced person, as you guys know. My politics are nuanced, the way I live my life is more nuanced."
"My journey on this show wasn't one extreme or the other. There were some tough days, and there were executives here at the time and people here at the time that made too many of my days too difficult," she added, possibly alluding to McCain without mentioning her -- or anyone, for that matter -- by name. "All of them are gone. And you guys lived a lot of that with me. I think all of them are gone now."
Joy Behar then chimed in, appearing to throw some shade at McCain as well, but she definitely wasn't as subtle as Huntsman.
"Well, I miss some of them. I do, I miss some of them. I mean, I don't miss --," Behar said, before cutting herself off and simply adding, "The panel's perfect now."
The audience laughed in response. Huntsman appeared to agree with the audience, telling Behar with a laugh, "I did miss you, Joy."
Huntsman joined the daytime show for its 22nd season in 2018 and would announce her departure less than two years later, in January 2020, just before the pandemic hit. Shortly after her exit, McCain, 37, appeared on "Watch What Happens Live" where she confirmed the rumors about a so-called feud between her and Huntsman were, in fact, true. At the time, McCain told Andy Cohen that she hated how the media "weaponized" their longtime friendship and said the two "were still very good friends."
Meanwhile, last month, Huntsman opened up about her departure from "The View." When she exited the show, the reporter said she was leaving to work for her father's Utah gubernatorial election campaign -- but it seems that wasn't the only factor in her decision to quit.
"You would see people act in ways around you that was not okay, that was very much part of the toxic environment that existed," she said on the premiere episode of her new I Wish Somebody Told Me podcast. "But because it was a show like 'The View,' it was like this is just what happens and here we were going out on the air criticizing other shows or other people for doing it the wrong way or for a toxic culture and yet I'm sitting right there like, I'm in the middle of this. We can't say anything."
She said that her father's campaign cover was "a great out" for her, because she had already been feeling "for a long time" that "the show did not reflect my values."
"When I say that, I mean rewarding people for bad behavior," she continued. "I am never going to be someone that writes a tell-all book -- that's just not me -- and I'm not going to put names on things, but at that time, there were executives in charge that I did feel like we were sort of players in their game and it was about money and it was about ratings and the tabloids and in order to keep that show hot, you had to just let it all continue on."
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