O’Donnell says Barbara Walters should retire

NEW YORK - Rosie O’Donnell’s memoir, “Celebrity Detox,” is already causing a commotion before its Oct. 2 release date.

The book recounts (among other things) O’Donnell’s time co-hosting “The View,” and O’Donnell reportedly indicates that the show’s frontwoman, Barbara Walters, should retire.

“At some point, a person gets tired. It’s inevitable,” O’Donnell writes, according to a report in The New York Post. “Barbara Walters is almost twice my age ... at some point it becomes necessary to step back.

“Everyone has to go. Going is part of the gig,” Rosie, 45, reportedly says of Barbara, 77, in the book.

“And I would be less-than-honest if I were to say that there is no trouble between Barbara and I,” O’Donnell writes, according to the report. “I mean, our differences are obvious.”

Walters, who has read the book, expressed her reaction to it in a statement to “Access Hollywood”:

“Rosie has written a sad book, but I choose to focus on the happier times that we had and the happy times that we hope to have in the future.”

A publicist for O’Donnell told “Access,” “Rosie loves Barbara, always has, always will.”

Despite any “differences” O’Donnell may have allegedly had with Walters in the past, she defends Barbara when it comes to her involvement in Rosie’s drawn-out feud with Donald Trump, according to the New York Post’s Page Six.

“I did not anticipate that (Trump) would be cruel enough to do what he did to Barbara,” Rosie reportedly writes in the book. “She should have been left alone.”

Walters was unwittingly brought into the fray when Trump claimed to various media outlets that she did not like O’Donnell, and that she regretted putting her on the show — a claim Walters denied.

As for the present day, “The View” has moved on since Rosie’s departure last May. New co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg and Sherri Shepherd are firmly in place alongside Joy Behar and Elisabeth Hasselbeck, and Walters is looking forward to a “wonderful year” with them on the show.

On a visit to “The View” set yesterday, Barbara told “Access” that she doesn’t anticipate any “personal” feuds this year, and expects the show to return to lively, friendly debates.

As for Rosie’s on-air claim that she would occasionally return to guest host, Walters indicated to “Access” that O’Donnell will most likely not be back.

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