Sherri Shepherd Recalls Going “Topless” On ‘The View’ With Jenny McCarthy: Barbara Walters “Would’ve Had A Fit”

Former The View co-hosts Sherri Shepherd and Jenny McCarthy once gave viewers an NSFW view—but without Barbara Walters in their midst, of course.

In a preview from Thursday’s episode of Sherri first released by Entertainment Weekly, Shepherd addressed McCarthy recently airing her grievances surrounding her brief time on the daytime talk show. Shepherd echoed that McCarthy was brought onto The View after focus groups suggested that audiences “wanted less fighting about politics.”

“They wanted to be more chill, more fun, and so they brought Jenny on because Jenny was light, and she was funny, and she was sexy,” she explained. “But then the focus groups changed their minds. They wanted the politics back.”

In an effort to alleviate the “hard time” McCarthy was experiencing with the excess of political coverage, Shepherd said she “would suggest fun stuff for [them] to do,” including going “topless” on the air.

“So we went topless on The View. This way, I said, well Jenny can show off her funny side. I just wanted to show off my boobs,” she quipped.

Shepherd assured viewers that Walters “was not there that day,” teasing that “she would’ve had a fit.”

According to People, Shepherd and McCarthy went topless during a 2014 segment in which they discussed the nudity featured in HBO‘s sitcom Girls.

On Tuesday’s (Jan. 6) episode of the Katie Miller Podcast, McCarthy recalled being brought onto The View to add some “light, fluffy, and fun” pop culture insights, though the role quickly transitioned to involve more political coverage. Shepherd said she “also had the same problem as Jenny” when she was welcomed onto the ABC daytime talk show in 2007.

“When I came on the show, they wanted someone light. They wanted a person who was a mother to talk about being single, being a mother. It was supposed to be just very, very light celebrity. So I thought I was going to be doing stand-up comedy, telling jokes, being funny when I was on The View,” she elaborated. “But then Barack Obama ran for president, and politics was all we talked about.”

Shepherd conceded that this transition was “so hard” for her, explaining that she “had never voted before” due to the religion she was raised in. She admitted that she “didn’t know a lot about the world” because of her religion, as well.

“And Barbara, she would always look at me—I remember one day, she went, ‘Dear, read a book!’” she remembered of the late Walters, who passed away in 2022 at 93 years old.

Despite the difficulty, Shepherd highlighted that she “had the best time on The View,” describing the experience as “one of the best, hardest, most terrifying, [and] most crying-filled,” and one that she “loved.” Plus, Shepherd said she is “friends for life with the women [she] sat with at that table,” deeming The View “a sisterhood.”

Sherri airs on weekdays. Check out the website for local listings. The View airs on weekdays at 11/10c on ABC.