Elisabeth Hasselbeck is sharing her side of the story.
The TV personality appeared on Tuesday's episode of The View and responded to claims that Rosie O'Donnell had a crush on her during their time on the daytime talk-show.
"Lord, help me," she said after taking a deep breath. "This is how I believe this needs to be addressed—both truthfully and maybe where I would have addressed it with some grace in years past, and haven't, I will now."
In a new book called Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of The View, O'Donnell claims "there was a little bit of a crush."
"But not that I wanted to kiss her," she claimed in an excerpt published by Variety. "I wanted to support, raise, elevate her, like she was the freshman star shortstop and I was the captain of the team."
She also claimed, "I was going to Scottie Pippen her. If I was Jordan, I was going to give her and the ball and let her shoot. But it was in no way sexualized."
During Tuesday's episode of The View, Hasselbeck described her former co-star's claims as "reckless," "untrue" and "not only insulting [but also] disturbing when it comes to how she felt about somebody in the workplace."
"That person happened to be me," she continued. "But if you replace what Rosie said and you take her name out and you put in Ruben or Robert, then we would be in a situation where you would see the objectification of a woman in the workplace. And that's disturbing because where we may be really against that when it comes from a man to a woman, you don't get a pass because you're a lesbian objectifying a woman in the workplace. You just don't."
Joy Behar then argued O'Donnell didn't comment on Hasselbeck's looks but simply stated she had a crush.
"There were words in her statement that said she had intentionally tried to groom me and take me under her wing," Hasselbeck said.
She also made it clear "the feeling was not mutual."
"But I did respect her as a co-host and as a person in the office—as I think it should happen in all workplaces," she continued. "But I think what we're hearing is: We should be as disturbed about that in this case as we have been in the fact if her name was Robert."
Hasselbeck also spoke out against O'Donnell's comments about female athletes. In the book, O'Donnell claimed there were "underlying sexual undertones on both parts"—a notion she suggested based solely on the fact that Hasselbeck played on a division one softball team and was the MVP.
"There are not many, in my life, girls with such athletic talent on sports teams that are traditionally male that aren't at least a little bit gay," O'Donnell claimed.
Hasselbeck said "it's a lie and it's reckless to attach a sexuality" to a woman's athletic ability.
In addition, she said she actually tried to call O'Donnell but didn't have her number. However, she said she forgives O'Donnell for her comments.
"I believe that above all, like, I've been given a lot of grace by God, and I mess a lot of things up and I certainly will continue to do so," she said. "I feel like I have the grace of forgiveness and that I forgive Rosie. I absolutely forgive her because I was disturbed by what she said and I was offended by it. She has my forgiveness full-heart, and I really pray that she can just have the peace that she deserves. That's my ultimate prayer. There may be some truth-tackling to be done in it. But it's not done without the grace and I hope that she's OK, and I hope that she's at peace, and I hope that she and I can get to a place of peace at some point. But more, I want it for her then anything else. So, that's all I have about that."
Later on, Rosie took to Twitter to clarify her past statements. She said, "hey eh - my crush on u was not sexual - sorry u got scared - surely u recall b4 it all went wrong - i never objectified u - i did find u fantastic - broadway shows - my pool -we were friends once. god love ya kid - i always did."