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enough.” So, I turn around to leave and as I’m walking out of the room Barbara Walters is walking in. I open the door and she is standing there at the hotel room door, and she says, “Oh baby, I’m so happy you came.” She guides me back in and addresses the room with her hand on my shoulder. Allison: Oh wow. I love those moments. So, you’re 22 years old, you’re a college student and you worked at MTV for a little bit. What did Barbara Walters expect from you? he puts this 22-year-old on the panel of The View. What were her expectations of you, exactly? Debbie: I don’t know that she even knew. Nothing like The View ever existed before, but now you see so many imitations have come after. It was an experiment and something she had wanted to do for years, and she finally was at a place in her life and had enough respect at ABC that they would allow her to do this. She wanted to just have a bunch of women sitting around, from different generations, different backgrounds, and different views, that would talk about topics of the day. The show has become super political now, but it wasn’t supposed to be political. It was just meant to be, “Here’s your mom, your grandmother, your aunt, your cousin, your younger sister, all sitting there chatting about the same topic. And they are all going to have different ideas, because they are coming from different generations and different backgrounds. It was about having a fun conversation and seeing where it comes out, and for all of us to learn from one another. Allison: You were basically hired just to be yourself? Debbie: That’s it. In the initial interview with Barbara and with [showrunner] Bill Geddie, that is what they loved. They loved that I was just myself. Media has changed immensely since then. You can only be yourself right now, and so can I, because we don’t have Tide, Downey and Coca Cola breathing down our necks to say. “Oh my gosh, what are you saying on that show?” Yes, they liked it, but then when you get in front of the world and the network is selling advertising dollars, they’re saying, “Who is this wild child saying these things?” that perhaps don’t align with corporate sponsors. The sponsors were still [Barbara’s] boss, and the network was still her boss. Now it is different. Now people say the craziest stuff, and the crazier the better, and people like that because it garners publicity and people love that. Allison: It goes viral. Debbie: It goes viral. Back then, they wanted to sweep everything under the rug. They were like “Yes, we like you, just be you… with a little less you.” (Laughs). There is so much you, and we’re not sure if daytime TV is ready for all of that. Then the Kardashians came, and all this craziness, and I was thinking, “I wasn’t nearly as wild as they were.” It’s just that at the time I was 22 years old, on national television, and going out to concerts, going out to clubs, being a 22-year-old. Allison: We’re the same age, and I remember watching you on The View back then. I thought you were funny, irreverent, interesting, and they had you doing some really cool and fun things. Then things took a left turn. I started hearing in the media, “Would you believe what Debbie said on The View?” Then people are parodying you on SNL and late-night TV and picking you apart as if you were supposed to be this seasoned politico and journalist. It was very weird, what happened to you. Debbie: It was very hard to deal with, because suddenly I get all of this fame and notoriety very quickly. It’s all fine and great and then like you said it turned on a dime and everyone started attacking me. I said, “Wait a second. You hired me to be this. You hired me to be the kid from MTV. That is all I ever told you I was.” It was hard to understand why it was all happening. It was also hard to read that stuff and hear that stuff. I really retreated and I didn’t want to work in this business anymore. I have a very strong family unit, thank God, because if I did not have such a strong family and wasn’t so supported by them… it was a safe haven. I really leaned on them a lot during that time, and I went back to Virginia and