00:00Please help me welcome Vanessa Williams and Star Jones to Essence Live.
00:08Hi, ladies.
00:09Hello.
00:09Hi.
00:10Wow, you both look beautiful.
00:11Oh, my gosh.
00:12All right, let's start with you.
00:14As one of the original co-hosts of The View, you know this talk show world all too well.
00:18And you're also a producer of the show.
00:19Congrats.
00:20How much of your own experiences play into daytime defense?
00:23You know, I'm just sitting here.
00:24You have to forgive me.
00:25I feel like the old auntie at the club looking at you and how fabulous you are.
00:29Now you are just knocking it out the park with this hosting stuff.
00:34And I'm literally sitting here.
00:35You are the living, breathing example of some of the experiences of daytime television.
00:41It's the coming into your own as an interviewer, learning how to ask the follow-up question,
00:48not just the first question, being a good listener.
00:51And that's just what happens in front of the camera.
00:54My job was to get this cast, the Daytime Divas cast, to give you a taste of what happens
01:01a little bit behind the camera and to make it a little more fun and dramatic.
01:06Well, we can't wait.
01:07We're really, really excited for it.
01:09So have any of your former co-hosts at The View reached out to you about, you know,
01:14Daytime Divas or even the book before?
01:15I can honestly tell you that I heard from all of the original co-hosts.
01:20Vanessa and I sat with Joy on Friday before the show aired, and she couldn't have been
01:27more supportive.
01:28All of the girls, and as a matter of fact, the present cast of The View actually will
01:33make a cameo appearance later in the season.
01:35Really?
01:36I've heard from Barbara, I've heard from Meredith, and Debbie has been tremendously supportive
01:40of Daytime Divas doing stories on it.
01:43So I have to tell you, we may be a dysfunctional family, Daytime family, but we are family nonetheless.
01:49You're family, yeah.
01:50And so we have each other's back.
01:51Oh, that's awesome.
01:52So, Vanessa, you're a huge part of the show.
01:54Who inspired your character on the show?
01:57Well, I think it was on the page, and I also did read the book, Satan's Sisters, before
02:01I started.
02:02But knowing Star for years, and listening to her stories, but her approach.
02:07You know, she, Maxine Robinson, is based on Max Robinson, who is the first black anchor
02:14on television.
02:15So it was an homage to accomplishment and achievement.
02:18So I knew I had to have a certain stature.
02:21So there's power that walks in the room.
02:23There's an elegance, because she is a diva.
02:25And diva meaning she loves the great things in life.
02:28She loves to be treated a particular way.
02:32And she deserves it, because of her, who she is, and what she's accomplished.
02:36So I think it was a combination of hearing her idea and kind of embodying what was on
02:42the page, and just knowing stories.
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