Meghan McCain reveals exactly when she knew she was leaving 'The View,' and it involved Joy Behar

"I had postpartum anxiety," McCain told Variety. "When I was back, I was really nervous. It was like starting TV all over again. I felt unsteady. I was trying to make a joke, 'You missed me so much.' If you watch the clip, her reaction is very sharp. I can't explain what it felt like. The people in the room with me in the D.C. bureau, there was a sound engineer and the hair and makeup artists. The sound woman looked shell-shocked at what she’d seen."

McCain admitted she cried during the commercial break, adding:

"Bad—and started lactating. I did end up being able to go back on-air. I remember Dr. Sanjay Gupta was on, and he looked weirded out. He went out of his way to be nice to me. After the show, I went back to my office and I had a panic attack. I couldn’t stop crying, and I’m not always crying. I couldn’t compose myself. I threw up in the garbage can. I was so overcome. This is my narrative—'I come back from maternity leave and no one missed me.' I knew it was going to be everywhere. I was just so confused, because women when they have babies should be treated respectfully when they come back to work."

In the book, McCain called out the daytime talk show's "toxic work environment." With Variety, she also shared she felt isolated while "working on the show as the only conservative during the Trump years" and touched on her disagreements with co-host Whoopi Goldberg over the years, but ultimately, she has "a lot of love and affection" for the EGOT winner. 

McCain first announced she would be departing "The View" on July 1.

McCain welcomed her first child, a daughter named Liberty, in September 2020 with her husband, Ben Domenech. She is the daughter of late congressman and senator John McCain, who died in August 2018.