What You Didn’t Know About Meredith Vieira

The success of the daytime talk show “The View” would be nothing without Meredith Vieira. As the original moderator of the show, she was able to speak her mind in a way she never could while working in journalism. At first, “it was scary, because as a reporter, I never gave opinions,” she told The Wall Street Journal. Crazy enough, Vieira didn’t even want to audition for the show in the first place. “I auditioned because Richard, my husband, suggested I do it,” she admitted. “I wasn’t going to.”

At that time in her life, Vieira had been searching for a job on television that didn’t require her to travel. She had three small children at home and wanted to spend as much time with them as she could. After a pep talk from her husband, Vieira decided that auditioning for “The View” might not be a bad idea. Though she doubted she would be able to secure the job, she thought the experience might eventually lead to something else.

After her audition in a hotel room, Vieira told her husband something she never expected to say. “I came home that night and said, ‘I can’t believe this. I actually had a great time,’” she reminisced. Shortly after, she landed the job.