Star Jones on Claim That Her View Co-Stars Leaked Surgery News

Star Jones is clarifying a piece of information she allegedly told Ramin Setoodeh, the author of a new book called Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of "The View."

Setoodeh claimed during Wednesday night's episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen that Jones, who he interviewed for the tell-all, accused her co-stars on The View of playing a role in the tabloid exposure of her 2003 gastric bypass surgery.

The TV personality's rapid weight loss became a major topic of discussion during her 9-year tenure on the talk show, during which she attributed the transformation to traditional diet and exercise. In 2007, Jones came forward with the truth, revealing that she had in fact undergone gastric bypass surgery and lost 160-lbs. 

"My time at The View was one of the great opportunities of my lifetime," Jones told E! News in a statement via her rep. "Of course there were conflicts over the years, however I will forever consider Barbara Walters (along with my dear friend, the late Johnny Cochran) to be one of my two most influential mentors. The opportunity to sit beside her for so many years was a ‘master class' in many aspects of my personal and professional life that I relish and am eternally grateful for."

According to Setoodeh, Jones revealed to him that prior to her controversial dismissal from The View in 2006, "Both Barbara Walters and Joy Behar were leaking stories of her gastric bypass to The New York Post to ruin her reputation."

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