O’Donnell takes early leave at ‘View’

Move follows feisty confrontation with co-host Hasselbeck

Rosie O'Donnell, second from left, won't be back on The

? Rosie O’Donnell has fought her last fight at “The View.”

ABC said Friday that she asked for, and received, an early exit from her contract at the daytime chatfest following her angry confrontation with co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck on Wednesday. She was due to leave in mid-June.

It ended a colorful eight-month tenure for O’Donnell that lifted the show’s ratings but no doubt caused heartburn for show creator Barbara Walters. O’Donnell feuded with Donald Trump and frequently had snippy exchanges with the more conservative Hasselbeck.

O’Donnell said last month she would be leaving because she could not agree to a new contract with ABC executives.

“Rosie contributed to one of our most exciting and successful years at ‘The View,'” Walters said. “I am most appreciative. Our close and affectionate relationship will not change.”

In a statement, O’Donnell said that “it’s been an amazing year and I love all three women.”

No one was feeling the love Wednesday, when the argument with Hasselbeck began over O’Donnell’s statement last week about the war: “655,000 Iraqi civilians have died. Who are the terrorists?”

Talk show critics accused O’Donnell of calling U.S. troops terrorists. She called Hasselbeck “cowardly” for not saying anything in response to the critics.

“Do not call me a coward, because No. 1, I sit here every single day, open my heart and tell people what I believe,” Hasselbeck retorted, and their exchange continued despite failed attempts by their co-hosts to cut to a commercial.

On Thursday O’Donnell had asked for a day off to celebrate her partner’s birthday. “The View” aired a taped show Friday.

On her Web site, O’Donnell posted a scrapbooklike video Friday with pictures and news clippings of her tenure at “The View.” A day earlier, she posted messages on her Web site indicating she might not be back.

“When painting there is a point u must step away from the canvas as the work is done,” she wrote. “Any more would take away.”