“Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” actress Garcelle Beauvais did not have a pleasant audition experience for “The View.”
The Haitian-American reality star called out moderator Whoopi Goldberg specifically, saying the panel member treated her badly while Beauvais was auditioning for a temporary co-host position.
“I was shocked and appalled to see how testy Whoopi was with the show’s producers,” the “RHOBH” star shared in her new book. “I was embarrassed and disappointed, to say the least. It was cringeworthy!”
The recollection is part of “Love Me As I Am,” an autobiographical memoir, according to Page Six.
Beauvais tried out for the position in 2015 after Rosie O’Donnell left “The View.” As the model and actress recounted, she was excited at the prospect of finding full time work on the popular ABC talk show. Goldberg and the other hosts quickly tampered that excitement with their demeanors.
“Here I was the eager new kid in class and I ran smack dab into the reality of an uninviting workplace,” she continued while describing the incident in the book. She called out Goldberg, Rosie Perez, and Nicole Wallace as being responsible for her bad experience.
“There was a brief nonchalant recognition that I was the co-host up to bat that week. No greetings or welcoming niceties, just a hey and they continued on with the [top-of-the-morning] meeting [with producers]. Okay,” she continued.
Though the actress, 55, said she believed the audition went well, she recalls not getting any positive reinforcement from “The View” panelists.
“The energy was cold, unfriendly and standoffish,” Beauvais explained. “The atmosphere was so opposite to my friendly nature and definitely not what I had expected or hoped for.”
She said while speaking at one point, Perez allegedly kicked her leg under the table in an effort to make her stop talking. The “RHOBH” star said, “It was a shut-the-f***-up-b****, you’re-talking-too-much signal kick!”
Later, Beauvais said Perez explained the move.
“’Girl, you know, I just wanted you to know that you needed to be quiet. I thought you were gonna go on too long. You know, we have a system here and we know when the other one is about to talk. So I just wanted to stop you from talking too much.’”
The actress thought to herself, “What kind of system is that where grown women kick each other like f***ing mules? Was this a new type of morse code or something? GTFOOH!”
Beauvais told Page Six that she included the story in her memoir “because it happened,” but confirmed she’s still a fan of “The View” despite the bad audition.
“I’m not making this s*** up, you know what I mean?” she said. “If these stories happened and it’s my memoir, then I’m talking about it. It was unfortunate because I’m still such a fan and even still record the show.”
Beauvais added, “I love what they do. I think they’re smart, and I love the cast, especially now. I think Sunny [Hostin]’s great.”
“I got reintroduced to Whoopi, and I think sometimes you don’t get a second chance like that. Sometimes you have to be open for a reintroduction,” she continued. “She’s an icon. And I get that. I would never take away from her in terms of what she was able to do in the industry way before a lot of us. So kudos to her for that.”