The View Alum Debbie Matenopoulos Addresses Sunny Hostin's On-Air Allergic Reaction

Last week, Matenopoulos -- who was a co-host on The View from 1997 to 1999 -- stopped by the daytime talk show to promote her new cookbook, GREEK.ish. She brought several Greek plates for The View hosts to try, including a dish featuring walnuts, which Hostin is highly allergic to.

While eating the dish during the segment, Hostin appeared somewhat panicked, with the lawyer later sharing that she "almost died" and recalled how she wrote a "death note" to her co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin, in which she relayed that she's allergic to walnuts.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, published on Tuesday, Matenopoulos said she was unaware of Hostin's walnut allergy, and producers had even approved the recipes before her appearance on Wednesday's episode.

"I love them all, I felt horrible," she shared, adding, "I went over the recipes with the producer on the show. At one point we said we should do this peach walnut upside-down cake."

Hostin -- who has been a co-host of The View since 2016 -- admitted on Friday that she often forgets about her allergy, saying she hasn't had a reaction in 10 years, with her co-host Sara Haines noting that she did not know about Hostin's allergy. And according to Matenopoulos, The View producers weren't aware either.

The TV personality said she told producers at one point, "God forbid someone would have a nut allergy," claiming that a producer replied that none of the co-hosts were allergic to the dishes. (EW reported that the person did not know about Hostin's allergy.)

"She thinks I’m trying to kill her," Matenopoulos joked to EW, adding, "I would like to go on the record stating I definitely was not trying to kill Sunny Hostin!"

Although Hostin and her co-hosts poked fun at the incident on Friday's episode, producer Brian Teta said to Hostin on The View's Behind the Table podcast on Monday that "it was actually incredibly serious and scary."

Recalling the footage of her on-air allergic reaction, the legal expert said she "had a panic attack."

"I was actually panicking," she continued. "The reason I wrote the note to Alyssa was because that was my death note. That was like, if I went into anaphylactic shock, I wanted everybody to know what was happening. I think I freaked her out because she was like, 'Oh no,' and I was like, 'Oh yes.' I looked at you."

Hostin and Teta noted how they made "eye contact," with the producer mouthing to Hostin if everything was alright, to which she shook her head no.

"My tongue was getting bigger and swelling, and my lips were swelling and burning," she recalled, to which Teta said if it ever happens again, for her to get out of her chair and "let people know what's going on."

"I didn't want to mess up Debbie's book," Hostin replied, with Teta clarifying that it "was not Debbie's fault."

"If I would have...ran off set that would have become the story instead of her book at that moment.," Hostin continued. "And I didn't want to take that away from her as an author myself, I didn't want to do that to her."

The former prosecutor revealed that her family "reminded" her of past hospitalizations due to her allergy.

"My mother reminded me I was hospitalized at five because of it," Hostin said, "and then my husband reminded me, when he found out about it, he was like, 'You were hospitalized 10 years because of this.'"

She said that her friends, family, and team -- including her assistant -- are aware of her allergy, so she wasn't concerned that any of Matenopoulos' dishes would have walnuts in them. However, Hostin said "somehow it just got lost in translation," noting that it was an "accident."

"I trusted that there wouldn't be any walnuts," she added. "Thank god, Alyssa said, 'Are there walnuts in here?'"

Hostin previously praised the Disney nurses on set as "superheroes," with Teta recalling in the podcast how everyone rushed into action during the commercial break.

"We have people running for Benadryl, running to get the nurse, EpiPens ..." he said, before Hostin asked if she looked "as terrified" as she felt.

"Yeah, you did. I was very nervous," Teta admitted, to which Hostin said, "I was terrified. I was pacing. I was terrified."