Star Jones: ‘I wanted to reclaim my life’

NEW YORK - Star Jones Reynolds said the tabloid rumors circulating about her ouster from “The View” and a desire to “reclaim my life” spurred her to announce her departure from the show — two days ahead of the agreed upon time — during an interview with Al Roker on Friday's “Today” show.

The news that Reynolds wouldn’t have her contract renewed for a 10th year on the daytime talk show exploded this week into a bitter war of words involving show creator Barbara Walters. Jones' decision to make her announcement on Tuesday angered Walters, who, along with co-executive producer Bill Geddes, told Jones' agent that the lawyer-turned-talk host would no longer be working on the show.

Walters and Geddes declined invitations to appear on the “Today” show. But Roker spoke with “The View” producers and reported they felt “betrayed” by Jones' decision.

“The word choice was very unfortunate especially since Barbara and Bill have both known since April exactly what was happening,” Jones told Roker. “I understand this. This is a business decision. Millions of people get pink slips every single year. My contract was not re-renewed. But I think the American people understand that corporations protect themselves. We’ve watched Enron and Tyco and all of that. When there’s a corporate entity in jeopardy they gather around and they protect themselves. And it would be an affront to my character and an insult to the viewers if I got into the muck and mud.”

ABC told the Associated Press on Thursday that Reynolds was canned immediately after Tuesday’s show because her announcement, and an interview with People magazine, took the network by surprise.

Roker asked Jones about the People interview, which was conducted on June 23. Portions of that interview were released by People on its Web site on Tuesday — while “The View” was still on the air. Jones claims the interview was supposed to be published on Friday and denies that she orchestrated her announcement to coincide with the Web release of the People interview. “I don't have that kind of power,” she told Roker.

“There was always a plan for me to say that I was leaving on Thursday [June 29],” Jones said. "There was never going to be a time when anybody was blindsided. … But because of the media leaks and the nastiness that had occurred in the beginning of the week I really wanted to reclaim my life. And I just didn’t think it was fair to the viewers to go with a story that was not the truth.”

During an interview with Larry King on Thursday night, Jones Reynolds said she was told she could “make up a story” about why she was leaving "The View" and her colleagues would have gone along with it.

“They said you can make up a story,” Reynolds said Thursday night. “The audience didn’t deserve for me to make up a story. That’s not fair.”

Walters has confirmed the intended deception, but said it was done to protect Reynolds’ reputation and feelings.

Jones told Roker that she found out in April from her husband, Al Reynolds, that her contract was not being renewed after he received a call from her agent. “I was never told by my producers, or my friends from nine years,” Jones said. She said understands that it was a business decision and told Roker that Friday would be “the last day I'm going to discuss this. I've made some mistakes. I've grown. I'm moving to the next part of my life.”

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