Remember that little adorable girl named “Olivia Kendall” on “The Cosby Show” way back when it was still an innocent extension of Bill Cosby‘s Jell-O Pudding commercials?
Raven-Symoné, 29, is the new permanent co-host on ABC’s “The View.” She replaces big mouth Rosie O’Donnell, who had a few too many arguments with Whoopi Goldberg, clearly the show’s lead host. Symoné will join the other ladies in the day’s “Hot Topics” — Nicolle Wallace and Rosie Perez. This is a bit of a stunner — Perez was previously thought to be leaving the show.
It only took Symoné 37 appearances on the show for them to decide she was a fit.
The new host came to Wednesday’s program bearing gifts — strange ones at that. She had bacon and candy for the panelists and watermelon and potato chips for Goldberg.
As for her personal life, Symoné tends to remain private, although she did tell Oprah in 2014 that she was in a romantic relationship with woman (whose name is AzMarie Livingston). However, she will not say that she’s African American or gay. She later remarked to the Grio, “I never said I wasn’t black, I said, I’m not African American.” (You might say she comes bearing her own hot topics.)
Entertainment blogger Perez Hilton fully endorsed her. “With her sometimes controversial — but always strong — opinions, she’ll make a great addition to The View crew,” he wrote. “…Congrats, gurl!”
According to Variety there is still one space left to fill on the show.
See her from “The Cosby Show” below…
