Sunny Hostin spoke candidly about her public image during Friday’s episode of The View, saying she’s “not liked by half the country.” Hostin shared her perspective when the panel was discussing the significance of “the likeability factor” for celebrities.
Specifically noting a recent statement from comedian John Mulaney, who said people love him despite not knowing about the troubles he’s facing behind the scenes, The View hosts asked whether or not it’s “better to be honest than wanting everybody to like you all the time.”
That’s when Hostin chimed in about her own experience as a public figure.
“I think that people maybe know us a little bit more because our job is to share things that go on in our personal lives. We’re not acting,” Hostin said,” as reported by Decider.
She then explained why people don’t actually know what’s happening in the life of a famous person.
“But for people to kind of think that they know you — and people think that they know everything about us. And I get emails … I’m not liked by half the country,” she said. “I get emails on my websites about how horrible I am.”
Co-host Joy Behar interrupted Hostin at that point and jokingly said “I will stop sending them.”
“Thank you, Joy. Because they’re hurtful,” Hostin said as the two continued to joke with each other.
Getting back to her point, Hostin said “you don’t really ever know someone who’s a celebrity.”
The rest of the crew also shared their perspective on public perception.
“If you worry about somebody liking you, you become unlikeable,” Behar said. “There’s something about ‘please like me’ that’s very annoying.”
Ana Navarro also added that she doesn’t care what people think about her.
“I’m the same person on this table that I am in the green room,” she said. “I’m the same person I am in my personal life. I don’t pretend to be scandal-free. I don’t pretend to be perfect because it takes so much work to pretend.”
Sara Haines said everybody’s life is “Messy.”
“Everything you’re presenting that’s not that is in authentic,” she said, adding that people in the public also need to stop making assumptions about a famous person’s life.
