Whoopi Goldberg on Joy Behar's Four-Day Absence: 'Maybe She's Pregnant'

It was slim pickings on The View Thursday morning, as Joy Behar remains out with a mystery illness and Sara Haines is home recovering from COVID-19. The co-hosts have been relatively quiet about Behar's four-day absence, but Whoopi Goldberg finally addressed it today, joking, "Maybe she's pregnant. I don't know."

Amid concern from fans about Behar's whereabouts, Whoopi opened Thursday's episode by "setting the scene" about the panel lineup. "Sara's still out with COVID. Joy does not have COVID, she's getting over something else, the flu," she said, before joking that the 79-year-old co-host could be pregnant.

As a result of Behar and Haines' absences, The View asked Chelsea Clinton to fill in as guest co-host. She was seated at the table opposite ABC News' Juju Chang, who was at the table yesterday, conservative commentator Alyssa Farah Griffin, and full-time co-host Sunny Hostin.

Despite the addition of fresh perspectives, there were few notable moments from Thursday's episode, but Clinton still managed to make her presence known. During a discussion about rising inflation, Clinton defended the Biden administration, saying, "It's clear that the president and his administration care deeply about the American people, and after his predecessor, that, I think, is an important thing to acknowledge."

She went on to say that Biden is "not being passive" and "has tried many things to get in front of the inflation crisis," but his efforts have been blocked by Congress. "The Biden administration deserves credit for what they have been doing," said Clinton. "So we can say we think they should be doing more and a different set of things, but we shouldn't sit here and pretend they haven't cared or they haven't taken action."

INFLATION REACHES 40-YEAR HIGH: With calls coming from both sides of the aisle for the Biden administration to figure out ways to fix inflation rates, #TheView panel discusses what should be done to help Americans and question where blame should be placed. https://t.co/iWJBJds8pG pic.twitter.com/YuiTJeyNFq

— The View (@TheView) July 14, 2022

Later in the episode, Whoopi, Hostin, and Clinton sat down with former Rep. Gabby Giffords and Julie Cohen, co-director of the new documentary Gabby Giffords Won't Back Down, and Aftershock filmmaker Tonya Lewis Lee.

In a different segment, Clinton plugged her upcoming Apple TV+ series, Gutsy Women, in which she and mother Hillary Clinton speak with prominent women who have left a lasting mark on the world.

The segment offered each co-host a chance to highlight their own favorite "gutsy women," from Dr. Jane Goodall (Clinton's pick) to Cassidy Hutchinson (Griffin's choice), who recently testified before the January 6 committee. As Griffin put it, "26 years old and had more courage, integrity, and patriotism than so many men twice her age."

Get well soon, Sara and Joy!

Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.