NEW YORK - Elisabeth Hasselbeck says she and Rosie O'Donnell aren't on the best of terms nearly one month after their on-air dustup on "The View."
"Truthfully, I think a friend is someone who you have positive communications with, so I don't know if I would define us as friends right now," the 30-year-old co-host tells syndicated TV show "Access Hollywood" in an interview scheduled to air Tuesday.
"I did define us as friends, but I'm not going to make the leap to assume that we will or will not be friends in the future," Hasselbeck says.
The heated squabble -- broadcast live on a split-screen as the two co-hosts traded accusations and personal digs -- led to O'Donnell's early departure from the ABC daytime chatfest. O'Donnell called Hasselbeck "cowardly" for not saying anything in response to talk-show critics who accused her of calling U.S. troops terrorists.
"We had so many conversations and a true friendship," says Hasselbeck, the more conservative of the pair. "If you looked at the big picture, I always looked at us on the same team, even though our politics were so different."
Last month, O'Donnell, 45, said in a video blog posted on her Web site that she had never tried harder to be friends with someone, but doesn't think she succeeded with Hasselbeck.
That was news to Hasselbeck, who says she had a close relationship with O'Donnell.
"She sent me two e-mails right after (the fight) and I sent her one back," she says. "It was a really great e-mail, so hearing these things after really surprises me."
Confrontation can be healthy, Hasselbeck says.
"We really did challenge each other, and I loved that. I found such meaning in this job because we were able to turn the lens on one another, as good friends should do."
