Daytime talk show host Sherri Shepherd recently taught her viewers the importance of practicing the act of kindness by paying it forward.
On the May 3 episode of “Sherri,” guest Sunny Hostin of “The View” stopped by to promote her new novel, “Summer on Sag Harbor,” the author’s second book in her beach reads series that highlights the stories of women of color in a genre that has often overlooked diversity.
The women, both of whose employment at “The View” overlapped in 2014, later discussed sharing onboarding information in their contracts. Shepherd was on “The View” from 2007 to 2014.
Helping Out Each Other
“I don’t even know if you remember this, but when I signed my deal sheet, you gave me a call,” Hostin said to Shepherd. “I don’t know how you got my number… and you were like, ‘I heard you’re coming on the show.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m joining the show.’ She was like, ‘Did they give you a car stipend?’ I was like, ‘No…’ and I was like, ‘Let me get my deal sheet out.’ And you basically went over your salary for the entire time you were there, and you also gave me Jenny McCarthy’s salary.”
Hostin credited Shepherd’s transparency, stating she was the one who helped her in securing a similar and higher salary.
“She got me paid,” Hostin said. “You gave me everyone’s salary, and I went back to my agent and I was like, ‘You did not get me enough money.’”
Passing Knowledge On
Shepherd attributed her benevolence to her experience with former “View” co-host Rosie O’Donnell, who joined “The View” in 2006.
“Rosie O’Donnell gave everybody’s salary and hers and you need to pay it forward,” she said. “You gotta stick together!”
But O’Donnell wasn’t the only one to help out Shepherd.
During her divorce, Shepherd was in need of financial assistance and received help from another co-host on “The View,” Whoopi Goldberg. Shepherd recalled being broke and grateful for Goldberg’s help.
At the time Shepherd had just started “The View” but couldn’t afford to pay for clothes.
“When I came from L.A., all I had was a Gap miniskirt and a tank top. Whoopi took me around after I went on Bill O’Reilly with that tank top and that miniskirt. Whoopi said, ‘We got to get you some clothes.’ She took me to Anne Fisher. She got all these clothes for me, which were costly,” Shepherd remembered during an interview with HollywoodLife. Shepherd said she hesitated when Whoopi presented the outfits to her.
“I said, ‘I can’t afford these clothes; my card is going to be declined.’ I figured I would pay for the clothes and take them back and get my money back. I was going through a divorce. I just was broke,” she recalled.
“The sales clerk, when I gave them the card, said, ‘Ms. Goldberg paid for these clothes.’ I broke down crying, and Whoopi hugged me and Whoopi said, ‘Pay it forward.’… Whoopi taught me to pay it forward, which is what I have been doing for my entire career.”
So that is what she did by helping Hostin.
