Sherri Shepherd's View of 'The View'

The Newest Co-Host Talks About the Show, Being a Single Mom and Her Upcoming Sitcom

November 27 -- Think you know everything there is to know about the very public drama that's played out at 'The View'? Think again. Comedian, sitcom star and frequent guest host Sherri Shepherd was hired in September to fill a permanent spot on the series after months of turmoil that saw Star Jones make a contentious departure from the daytime gabfest, only to be followed by a series of bitter on-screen fights and a tension-filled departure by Rosie O'Donnell. And it was O'Donnell who convinced Shepherd to take the job.

Shepherd explains why she was hesitant to join the show in the first place, and also tells AOL TV's Kimberly Potts about how she's faring as a single working mom (there are lots of tears), about working with fellow comedians Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar and about how she has no regrets about spilling all her personal secrets on the show.

Hi Sherri. Thanks for taking the time to chat today.
Oh, no problem, I'll talk to you right before I go catch my plane.

Where are you off to?
I'm going to see my son. I'm going to L.A. for Thanksgiving.

Aw, it must be tough being away from him so much.
Oh my gosh, it's so hard. Whoopi had to console me today. You know, at different points, I'll break down into tears. You go through that whole thing, being a mother, a working mom, and not being with your child. Mine's so far away from me. It's extremely difficult.

As a working mom, there's just never a point in life where you don't feel guilty about something, right?
It's so funny, I'm crying this morning, and Whoopi saw and she's like, "And let me tell you something girl, it will always be that way." I said, "You're kidding me. I better not be crying like this until he's grown." And she's like, "Yeah, baby."

Are you having fun on the show though?
I'm having a ball. We genuinely enjoy working with each other. I think a lot of people, you know, had a lot of reservations about three comics being at that table, but we really have different types of humor, and we generally know when each is on. So there will be days when it's Joy's day, and everything she says is just hittin', and there'll be times when it's my day. And Whoopi's always amazing, of course. We have such great respect for each others' gifts and talents that we're doing really well, so I'm ecstatic.

The fact that three of you are comedians also means you delve into some issues from angles that others might not, too, right?
Absolutely. We tend to go the quirkier side, which is why it's such a balance, you know, with Elisabeth. We miss her so much. Joy said the other day, "I really miss Elisabeth, because she's the only staunch Republican, and without her I just sound like a ranting crazy person." So I think we balance each other out with the funny and the serious points of view.

What's the best part of joining the show permanently versus when you were a guest host?
I'm relaxing a little bit more. When you're a guest host, you have to jump in and really stand out in order for people to remember you. Plus, there were so many black women in that chair, people couldn't remember from one day to the next who it was. So it was more pressure on me to be funny, to jump in and say my opinion, to be more personal about my life. So now, being permanent, people are getting to know me, and I can kind of relax. But as a guest co-host, I didn't have that luxury.

Did you hesitate at all in accepting the job?
Yeah, absolutely. I was very scared to take it. I didn't have a lot of political knowledge, with the religion that I grew up in. We weren't encouraged to be involved in politics. We did not vote. And so I thought that would really be a hindrance, and there was a lot of fear, of, you know, do I really have anything to contribute to the topics? So yeah, I didn't take it for a long time, and it was Rosie [O'Donnell] who said to me, "How are you going to tell your son to try, despite the fear, if you don't try something?" And she said, "I think you should do this."

What's been the most difficult part of the job, aside from relocating to New York and missing your little boy?
Talking about politics. It's confusing to me. I'm trying to figure out who to vote for. I'm trying to figure out who stands where on the issues, and that's hard for me, because it's something I've never really looked at, I really never had a passion for. But it's really wonderful that these ladies don't make me feel like I don't know anything.



You mentioned earlier that when you were guest hosting, you felt like you needed to talk about your personal life. Do you regret that at all now? Do you wish you hadn't talked about your breakup with your husband?
No, I don't regret it, because I've always been very open and honest about anything that I was dealing with. My stand-up comedy is [about] my life. And the way I see things is kind of funny, and that period when I talked about my marriage was pretty cathartic for me. I made it funny because I went through a year of a lot of painful stuff. So to be able to talk about it and make people laugh, and then get the e-mails from people, going, "I'm dealing with the same thing. Thank you, thank you so much for making me laugh, and thank you so much for showing a light side of a painful situation," was great. So, no, I don't regret it at all!

Do you feel like this job then came at a good time, right in the midst of a lot of uncertainty in your personal life?
It came at a really good place in my life. I had been doing sitcoms for so long, and I was kind of wondering if there was a different journey that I needed to be taking. And this was something that came up and never left. They had asked me about being a regular a long time ago, when I first guest hosted. I said no so many times. But for two years that chair stayed empty, and it was kinda like, okay, I don't think it's gonna get filled. I think maybe this is supposed to be my chair. When I sit at that table, I say, "Yeah, I'm supposed to be here."

Any chance that you'll return to '30 Rock' if the writers' strike is settled and the season resumes?
I sure hope so! I'm so excited that Tina Fey brought me on in the first place, because it's such a great show, and a great character. When I saw the script, I was like "Tina, you go girl!" She wrote me some really good stuff.

Speaking of sitcoms, you're developing your own for the CW. What is it about?
It's really my life, what I went through with my marriage and being a single working mother now. I went in and talked to the people who had produced 'Less Than Perfect.' They had actually called me and said, "You're great in an ensemble, but we really think you could lead a show. And we've got a sitcom we'd like to develop for you." So I went in to talk with them, and I thought, oh gosh, I better tell 'em about what's happening in my life, because they love my husband, and I'm always talking about being married. So I started telling them a longer version of what I said on 'The View,' and they were laughing, they started crying ... and then they looked at me and said "This is the show we want to do, so real and so raw."

And are you going to star in it also?
Girl, you know I am! I'm going to write my story for somebody else? I'm going to star in it, and I want my name on it. I don't care what it's called, as long as my name is on it. It could be 'Sherri Sittin' on the Couch,' 'Sherri Drowned,' 'Sherri in the Kitchen,' as long as it's got 'Sherri' in the title.

Go to our Katee Sackhoff Interview >>