Rosie Perez broke down in tears when she announced, nearly two weeks ago, that she was leaving The View.
But the co-host, who’s leaving the ABC talk show after just one season, didn’t expect her on-air farewell to be so emotional.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter at Monday night’s Southpaw premiere in New York, Perez said it was the sight of her fellow co-hosts, Nicolle Wallace and Whoopi Goldberg, that made her start crying.
“[Nicolle] went to reach for my hand, and I went, ‘Oh, my God, I’m not going to see you every morning.’ And then I looked at Whoopi, and she was holding back the tears, and that was it. That’s when I lost it,” explained Perez, adding that, when she looked out into the audience, she also thought about fans who mention the show.
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“I was like, ‘My gosh, this show has been great. It’s opened me up to so many new people,’ ” Perez recalled thinking. “And every night when I come out of the theater at [her Broadway play] Fish in the Dark, it’s like, ‘Oh, you were so great, and I love you on The View,’ and I really appreciate that.”
Perez maintained that her departure came from her just wanting to move on, but, again, she said it was tough to break the news to Wallace and Goldberg.
“I told Nicolle Wallace first. It was a hard call,” said the actress. “I waited on Whoopi because I didn’t have the nerve to call her. But they were like, ‘We get it.’ Nicolle was like, ‘Oh, we’ll be so sad.’ And Whoopi was like, ‘Is this what you want to do?’ And I said, ‘Yes.’ And she said, ‘Then I’m all for it, and I love you. We’ll always still be friends.’ “
Regular The View viewers know that Perez is a big boxing fan, so it’s not surprising that she wanted to see Antoine Fuqua‘s fighting movie. And she’ll be using her boxing knowledge as a guest co-host of ESPN’s Premier Boxing Champions starting Aug. 1, Perez told THR.
