Sherri Shepherd recalled her concern of being fired from The View after telling cohost Pleasure Behar about an alleged hookup between present creator Barbara Walters and comic Richard Pryor.
The Sherri host, 56 — who cohosted The View from 2007 to 2014 — remembered telling Behar, 81, in regards to the supposed tryst and urged her to not repeat it, Shepherd shared on the Wednesday, October 18, on Watch What Occurs Dwell With Andy Cohen.
“As quickly as Barbara walked within the subsequent day, Pleasure goes, ‘Oh! You’re schlepping Richard Pryor. And I used to be like, I simply acquired the job. Like, I’m gonna get fired.”
Fortuitously for Shepherd, Behar “by no means ratted” when Walters requested her “who advised.” Nonetheless, after that incident, Sherri mentioned she now not shared secrets and techniques with Behar — who nonetheless cohosts the present — and “nonetheless [doesn’t] inform [her] nothing.”
Shepherd advised Cohen, 55, that she initially heard the rumor from Paul Mooney, who cowrote Pryor’s 1986 biographical movie, Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling and appeared alongside the late actor in a number of films.
“We have been speaking,” Sherri defined. “He walked in or peeked by the door and mentioned Richard Pryor and Barbara Walters have been intimate.”
Walters launched The View in 1997, and served as one of many hosts till 2014. She died in December 2022 at age 93. Pryor, for his half, starred in quite a few movies from 1967 to 1997, profitable 5 Grammy Awards over the course of his profession for his comedy albums. The comic died in 2005 at age 65.
Shepherd beforehand talked about the incident on her speak present earlier this month when Behar was her visitor. Behar mentioned that Walters “preferred a brother,” and claimed that the enduring broadcaster additionally attached with former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and former Massachusetts Senator. Edward Brooke.
After Walters’ demise final yr, Shepherd advised E! Information that the award-winning journalist had a “bawdy humorousness.”
“Actually, we may discuss intercourse all day lengthy,” Shepherd commented. “She had recommendation for days.”
Following her mentor’s passing, Shepherd paid tribute to Walters through Instagram.
“Barbara gave me an opportunity to develop. She inspired me (no… she TOLD me) to talk up or be left behind,” she wrote. “She advised me to by no means take No for a solution. Barbara consistently cherished on my son Jeffrey (children weren’t allowed in her dressing room, however Jeffrey was all the time welcome & he made her smile).”
“Thanks Barbara for giving a shy woman who didn’t wish to debate a seven yr likelihood of a lifetime,” Shepherd’s publish continued. “You believing in me has modified my life. Thanks for permitting me to seek out my voice and inspiring me to fly.”