Fred Lee/ABCThe View is down another voice.
Sherri Shepherd is leaving the ABC morning show after seven years, E! News confirms, with a source also telling us that producers have been quietly looking for replacements for her and Jenny McCarthy.
The source says the proposed overhaul came as a surprise to both women.
"It's been seven wonderful years on The View and after careful consideration it is time for me to move on," Shepherd said Thursday in a statement to Deadline. "I am extremely grateful to Barbara Walters and Bill Geddie for giving me the opportunity. I look forward to the business opportunities that lay ahead for me and I am incredibly grateful to my View family and my fans for supporting me on this journey."
McCarthy, meanwhile, just joined the show last September as a replacement for Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
Walters, The View's cocreator and so-called lead voice, retired from the show on May 16—and, incidentally, is scheduled to appear on tomorrow's episode as a guest for the first time. The veteran ABC newswoman remains an executive producer.
Since the departures of Hasselbeck and the yet-to-be replaced Joy Behar last year, The View has been utilizing an ever-rotating roster of both female and male guest hosts, including, just a couple days ago, McCarthy's fiancé, Donnie Wahlberg.
Shepherd and McCarthy's exit would leave Whoopi Goldberg as the show's only permanent cohost for now.
ABC has not yet commented on the shakeup.
UPDATE: McCarthy just chimed in via Twitter, writing, "If Sherri goes... I go too. #sisters." She followed that with, "My View will be changing too. As will with many hard working folks. Thanks to everyone at the show for your dedication and an amazing year."
(Originally published June 26, 2014, at 5:25 p.m. PT)