Star Jones makes her return to 'The View'

Star Jones, one of the founding co-hosts of "The View," returned to that ABC daytime talk show Wednesday for the first time since her rancorous departure in June 2006.

Opening the first of Jones' two segments, co-host Barbara Walters told the audience, "I can say this genuinely: I am so happy to welcome back Star Jones!" She then began to discuss Jones' surprise on-air departure.

"The truth about your departure is that when your contract expired, a decision was made for various reasons . . ." Walters began, as Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd and Elisabeth Hasselbeck looked on. Then Jones interjected, "Barbara, are we really going to go here? Do we care at this point? I mean, I honestly don't."

After Walters pressed on, Jones recalled the time of her departure as "ugly. Everything around was ugly. It was a bad emotional time. Nasty things were being said in the media. It was just not a good emotional time."

Jones -- who last March published the novel "Satan's Sisters," about a group of manipulative, backstabbing co-hosts of a daytime women's talk show -- explained, "I take real responsibility for my own behavior at all times, but I won't take responsibility if I have not made a decision that I can live with. And I made the decision that I wanted to go out on my own terms, I wanted to be able to control it, so that when I walked back in here, if I were ever invited, I would feel good about coming in."

Appearing on the show to promote heart health for women, Jones, who initially kept her 2003 gastric-bypass surgery a secret, thanked her former colleagues for covering for her at the time.

In response, Walters admitted, "We did lie for you!" To which Jones responded, "Who cares? I look good."

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