How Sara Haines feels about Joy Behar’s ‘lesbian relationship’ comment: Source
Sara Haines had no qualms about Joy Behar bringing up her past relationship with a woman on Wednesday’s episode of “The View” — because it wasn’t the first time they’ve talked about it in front of a live studio audience.
A source with knowledge told The Post that Haines, 47, “openly shared” her college romance with a separate in-studio audience last week, and she’s “not ashamed” or in any way mad at Behar, 82, for bringing it up on the show yesterday. The insider shared it was just “unexpected in that moment.”
While Haines realizes people at home did not get to hear her share the story last week, The Post can reveal she was in no way outed by Behar on live TV. The insider also reiterated that Haines feels “no shame” about her past.
It all went down when Whoopi Goldberg, 68, was plugging Haines’ appearance on the program’s “Behind the Table” podcast during the show’s “Hot Topics” segment, in which Behar interrupted by mentioning the lesbian relationship seemingly out of nowhere.
And here’s the kicker — Haines’ parents were in the live-studio audience.
“It’s crazy, but Sara is on the podcast today with her fabulous parents, who are here with us today,” Goldberg said as the camera panned to Haines’ mom and dad in the crowd.
“I have to ask her a question,” Behar interrupted. “Are you going to bring up that lesbian relationship you said you had, back at Smith [College]?”
“Dad, earmuffs! Earmuffs!” Haines responded as everyone erupted in laughter.
Their “View” co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin, 35, jumped in to remind Behar, “That was off-air that she told us that,” while Sunny Hostin, 56, joked, “Now it’s on-air!”
“It’s a good thing my dad doesn’t always watch,” Haines stated, seemingly shrugging off Behar’s comment.
There are reports that the TV veteran got a talking-to about her comments.
“Joy was blasted by her cohosts and higher-ups for her on air comment about Sara Haines’ lesbian romance,” Daily Mail reported on Thursday, per a source. “She crossed the line in terms of relaying something that was told to her off-air.”
However, The Post has confirmed with our insider that isn’t true. Haines and Behar’s friendship is just fine after the comment.
Haines has been a longtime ally of the LGBTQ+ community despite sharing she grew up in a conservative household.
Her brother is gay, and they played in a gay volleyball league in college.
“I was raised in an extremely conservative household in Iowa and did not come away unaffected by that, she told TV Insider in 2016. But I went to Smith College, which leans left, and I once substituted for my brother, who is gay, on a New York volleyball team of all-gay men and never left the league.”
She added, “So now I have more gay friends than straight ones. Combine all that and it leaves me somewhere in the middle. I’m a melting pot of beliefs.”
While Haines had a same-sex romance in college, she has been married to Max Shifrin since 2014. The couple share three children: sons Alec, 8, and Caleb, 5, and daughter Sandra, 6.
The Post contacted a representative from “The View” for comment.
