Rosie O'Donnell, the outspoken co-host of "The View," will be leaving the talk show in June, she announced Wednesday.
"I've decided that we couldn't come to terms with my deal with ABC, so next year I am not going to be on 'The View,'" O'Donnell said at the top of the show.
"However, I will be coming back and guest hosting. I will be doing one-hour specials on autism and depression and stuff that I am interested in. I am just not going to do the everyday thing," she said of the show, which airs in Canada on CTV.
O'Donnell, who has helped raise the ratings for the daytime chat show, says ABC wanted her to sign on for three years while she only wanted to stay for another year.
"It just didn't work, and that's showbiz. But it's not sad because I've loved it here, and I love you guys but I'm not going away. I am just not going to be here every day," she added.
Barbara Walters, seeking to dispel rumours she was behind O'Donnell's departure, said she did not participate in the renegotiations.
"You keep saying 'Don't be sad and we should all be happy,' and I am sad. ... because I induced her to come her. I knew you were only coming for one year, I hoped it would be more than one year," Walters said on "The View."
Walters, who invented the talk show, added that she wanted to make it perfectly clear she played no role in the contract talks.
"This was between your representatives and ABC Daytime, this is not my doing or my choice," she said.
O'Donnell will stay at the show until the end of June but the show's producers have not yet secured a replacement, Walters said.
The opinionated co-host's tenure has not been without its controversies, including a name-calling spat with Donald Trump that roped Walters into the conflict.
The Rosie-Donald feud began after Trump announced that Miss USA Tara Conner would keep her title, which had been in jeopardy because of underage drinking.
O'Donnell said his announcement irked her "on a multitude of levels'' and that the twice-divorced real estate mogul had no right to be "the moral compass for 20-year-olds in America.''
Trump fired back, calling her a "loser" and a "fat pig" in various media interviews.
O'Donnell was reportedly angry with Walters that she did not come more swiftly to her defence during the headline-dominating feud.
Trump had said Walters told him she didn't want O'Donnell on the show. But it was a claim Walters denied.
Walters was frequently left to clean up the damage after O'Donnell.
The most recent example was on Monday, when O'Donnell was blasted for using bad language and attacking Rupert Murdoch at the annual New York Women in Communication awards luncheon.
"This is a celebration of women who changed the world, and no one understands why Rupert Murdoch is on the dais," she said, adding, "I mean that in the kind, loving Post-like way, sir; it's delightful to see you in person."
Later, Walters took pains to say she did not necessarily share O'Donnell's impression of Murdoch.
"I would like to point out that Rosie's view is not always mine," Walters said. "I would like to say for the record that I am very fond of Rupert Murdoch."
Trump quickly went on Fox News Channel Wednesday to say O'Donnell was turfed by ABC because of those very remarks made at the Women in Communications luncheon.
"Barbara's the happiest person in the world that Rosie's been fired," Trump said.
Cindi Berger, spokeswoman for both O'Donnell and Walters, denied Trump's claim, wondering how he would know what had happened in contract talks.
"She wasn't going to commit to anything for three years and they would not commit to her for one more," Berger said.
News of O'Donnell's exit came as the lobby group Focus on the Family prepared to contact advertisers on "The View." The group intends to launch a campaign after O'Donnell made comments they found offensive to Catholics.
Ratings for "The View" during February sweeps were up 15 per cent in key female demographics over the same time in 2006.
With files from The Associated Press
