Joy Behar, co-host of The View, received a hug from President Obama last Saturday, Dec. 11, at The White House where he warmly greeted her. The two posed for a photo, and then Obama shared with Behar that he was doing better now that she had arrived at the cocktail party.
For Behar, who started in the entertainment and journalism business 30 years ago, her unique personality and talents have seen her rise among the stars of a very competitive industry.
Yet, Behar was not always an on-air personality. She reinvented herself from an English schoolteacher and a single mother of a 10-year-old girl. Behar has always been encouraged by her family to do what she loves, and so upon following her dream of being a comedian, she has defined herself as a woman who’s not afraid to speak her mind.
One of Behar’s opinions is about President Obama, whom she adores. “I am a huge fan of his, and he knows it!” The Democratic Party has recently announced that the honeymoon with President Obama is over. Much of the media has also recently changed their attitude toward President Obama, but Behar has held strong in her support. This support got Behar all the way to The White House, where a chorus of young men sat her on their lap and sung to her.
This has been a big year for Behar. After 15 years on Barbara Walters’s “The View” (for which Behar and her co-hosts each won an Emmy in 2009), Behar recently hosted a party to celebrate the one-year anniversary of her own show, “The Joy Behar Show” (aired on HLN, the sister company of CNN). The party was packed.
I had the honor of attending, and I managed to squeeze my way past all the models, actors, business executives, and media to say hello to her. She was sitting with actress Lorraine Bracco (“The Sopranos”) and her family behind a velvet rope, guarded by a rather large security guard.
Despite the party in her honor, TV star friends, and her own security detail, Behar was very graceful and approachable. She warmly introduced me to Lorraine and then sent me back into the party, instructing me to make more contacts and mingle. Spending time with Joy Behar is like hanging out with my cool aunt. She never assumes you know something, and her conversation is fun, yet intelligent and meaningful.
She is so easy going that she sometimes forgets she is famous. She might be running her errands on the upper west side, only remembering her fame when stopped for her autograph. This approachable quality is what makes Behar so popular. She is a woman who people can relate to and who will consistently voice her opinion even if it is not the popular one.
For Behar, who started in the entertainment and journalism business 30 years ago, her unique personality and talents have seen her rise among the stars of a very competitive industry.
Yet, Behar was not always an on-air personality. She reinvented herself from an English schoolteacher and a single mother of a 10-year-old girl. Behar has always been encouraged by her family to do what she loves, and so upon following her dream of being a comedian, she has defined herself as a woman who’s not afraid to speak her mind.
One of Behar’s opinions is about President Obama, whom she adores. “I am a huge fan of his, and he knows it!” The Democratic Party has recently announced that the honeymoon with President Obama is over. Much of the media has also recently changed their attitude toward President Obama, but Behar has held strong in her support. This support got Behar all the way to The White House, where a chorus of young men sat her on their lap and sung to her.
This has been a big year for Behar. After 15 years on Barbara Walters’s “The View” (for which Behar and her co-hosts each won an Emmy in 2009), Behar recently hosted a party to celebrate the one-year anniversary of her own show, “The Joy Behar Show” (aired on HLN, the sister company of CNN). The party was packed.
I had the honor of attending, and I managed to squeeze my way past all the models, actors, business executives, and media to say hello to her. She was sitting with actress Lorraine Bracco (“The Sopranos”) and her family behind a velvet rope, guarded by a rather large security guard.
Despite the party in her honor, TV star friends, and her own security detail, Behar was very graceful and approachable. She warmly introduced me to Lorraine and then sent me back into the party, instructing me to make more contacts and mingle. Spending time with Joy Behar is like hanging out with my cool aunt. She never assumes you know something, and her conversation is fun, yet intelligent and meaningful.
She is so easy going that she sometimes forgets she is famous. She might be running her errands on the upper west side, only remembering her fame when stopped for her autograph. This approachable quality is what makes Behar so popular. She is a woman who people can relate to and who will consistently voice her opinion even if it is not the popular one.
If that means storming off the set of “The View” last October when she was angered by conservative guest Bill O’Reilly’s comments, so be it. She happened to run into O’Reilly at The White House during last weekend’s cocktail party. “In the Christmas spirit, we were having a rapprochement.” Later she tweeted about it, referring to him as her “new BFF.” You can see a photo of them at the White House HERE at The Huffington Post.
Behar also ran into Christiane Amanpour from ABC News. She was there with her son, “an adorable little boy.” The cocktail party was for the broadcast media, so she saw her good friends George Stephanopoulos and his wife Alexandra Wentworth; and “Bill Press, this liberal radio host that I like— he’s always on my show. Oh, and Robin Roberts was there from Good Morning America.
Apparently, the food looked delicious, but she opted not to eat any of it because she is trying not to eat so much these days. Instead, she went out to dinner later with her friend Meredith Vieira (from the “Today Show”) and her husband.
As she walked around this wing of The White House for the first time, the beauty of it all blew her away. “The house is decorated in such a remarkably beautiful style. The Christmas trees are probably 12 feet tall; they had pheasants on the top of them as tree toppers and beautiful ribbons. There was a nativity scene ...”
Of course, the highlight of her evening was when she got to say hello to President Obama and First Lady Michelle. “When you walk in, they give you a little piece of paper that tells you what time you will be photographed, because they know you want to get a photograph with the President and Mrs. Obama. He gave me a hug when he saw me. I said, ‘how are you doing,’ because I know he’s having a little trouble right now, and he said ‘I feel great now that you’re here.’”
Joy spent some time describing The White House and telling me more about its history. As she described it, her eyes lit up. “Stunning! Just gorgeous! Its makes you feel good to be an American when you are in a place like that. Because you see the history, you feel it; you just feel it! You say, ‘My God what a country this is!’”
Behar also ran into Christiane Amanpour from ABC News. She was there with her son, “an adorable little boy.” The cocktail party was for the broadcast media, so she saw her good friends George Stephanopoulos and his wife Alexandra Wentworth; and “Bill Press, this liberal radio host that I like— he’s always on my show. Oh, and Robin Roberts was there from Good Morning America.
Apparently, the food looked delicious, but she opted not to eat any of it because she is trying not to eat so much these days. Instead, she went out to dinner later with her friend Meredith Vieira (from the “Today Show”) and her husband.
As she walked around this wing of The White House for the first time, the beauty of it all blew her away. “The house is decorated in such a remarkably beautiful style. The Christmas trees are probably 12 feet tall; they had pheasants on the top of them as tree toppers and beautiful ribbons. There was a nativity scene ...”
Of course, the highlight of her evening was when she got to say hello to President Obama and First Lady Michelle. “When you walk in, they give you a little piece of paper that tells you what time you will be photographed, because they know you want to get a photograph with the President and Mrs. Obama. He gave me a hug when he saw me. I said, ‘how are you doing,’ because I know he’s having a little trouble right now, and he said ‘I feel great now that you’re here.’”
Joy spent some time describing The White House and telling me more about its history. As she described it, her eyes lit up. “Stunning! Just gorgeous! Its makes you feel good to be an American when you are in a place like that. Because you see the history, you feel it; you just feel it! You say, ‘My God what a country this is!’”
