Interview with Star Jones Reynolds

By Julia Savacool

Q: What went wrong on The View?
A: We all changed over nine years — we weren't the same pack as when we started. It would have been a lot better if we could have expressed that. It's like having a good girlfriend when you graduate college, then you get your dream job and she doesn't. In six or seven years, you might not be as close. That's what happened on the show.

Q: Any hard feelings?
A: Even to this day, I consider Barbara [Walters] one of my role models. I think of her from the days of the Anwar Sadat and Fidel Castro interviews. It's sad that the younger generation of women only knows her for some of the silliness of The View. How should I put this? Our past is as relevant as our present. But ultimately, you are your very last day.

Q: So you've got a new show. How is it different than what's out there?
A: It's a talk show with a legal peg. I come at it from the juror's perspective. I'll be looking at issues like Imus being fired: Do we believe in First Amendment rights? Does freedom of speech extend to hate speech?

Q: And what's your verdict?
A: I would have fired Imus a long time ago. There's a culture of hate that I think has no place in our country right now.

Q: Your fans love your bluntness.
A: But you can step in it, you know? There was arrogance. I earned the diva image. If you come across like a pompous idiot, other people might think of you as a pompous idiot. Some of the mean-spiritedness — I can understand.