Elisabeth Hasselbeck

Elisabeth Hasselbeck
Born	(1977-05-28) May 28, 1977 Cranston, Rhode Island, United States
Occupation	Co-host on The View
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Tim Hasselbeck (July 6, 2002 - present)
Children	Grace Elisabeth, Taylor Thomas

Elisabeth Hasselbeck (née Filarski; born May 28, 1977) is an American former reality show contestant of Survivor: The Australian Outback and current co-host on the United States daytime talk show The View.

Early life

Elisabeth DelPadre Filarski was born in Cranston, Rhode Island. She is the daughter of Catholic school teacher–lawyer Elisabeth DelPadre, and architect Kenneth Filarski. She has one brother, Kenneth Jr. As a child, she lived in Providence and Cranston, Rhode Island.

Hasselbeck was raised Catholic and attended St. Mary School in Cranston, followed by St. Mary Academy - Bay View in Riverside, Rhode Island where she graduated in 1995. She then attended Boston College where she captained the women's softball team for two seasons. With a concentration on large paintings and industrial design, Hasselbeck graduated with a Fine Arts degree in 1999.

Hasselbeck started working for Puma in 1998, while attending Boston College. After graduation, she worked for PUMA shoes as a member of its design team before her television career. She traveled to Italy and Belize. Reports differ as to whether her travels were for researching Puma products or to teach in Belize.

Television career

Survivor and early career

In 2001, Hasselbeck was cast in Survivor: The Australian Outback, and was originally a member of the Kucha tribe. She was the last remaining member of that tribe in the game before being voted off on Day 39 and finishing fourth overall. As her luxury item, she brought a self-made immunity headdress. At the end of the game, she was the most popular Survivor of the season among the fans, rating a 9.3 out of 10 in the online approval poll. Producers wanted her to return for the Survivor: All-Stars edition, but she was unable to attend because she was starting her tenure at The View at the time.

In 2001, Hasselbeck was a judge at the Miss Teen USA Pageant. From 2002 to 2003 she hosted the Style Network's The Look for Less where she helped find stylish clothes for bargain prices.

The View

Although Hasselbeck previously saw herself as a "behind the scenes" kind of person and not interested in career television, or playing pundit, her agent was eager to showcase her competitive client and she auditioned for The View. In 2003, Hasselbeck was one of a number of women who guest-hosted to replace outgoing The View co-host Lisa Ling, who left the show at the end of 2002. Hasselbeck made it to the last few contenders, and was finally chosen by the other panelists as the new co-host.

Hasselbeck typically represents the conservative position on The View, defending theistic evolution and the war on terror, and opposing euthanasia and abortion. However, Hasselbeck has said that she calls herself neither a conservative nor a liberal. Her parents had an independent political stance, never telling their children for whom they voted. She has stated that the term "conservative" does not define her as a person.

When Presidential candidate John McCain appeared on The View on September 12, 2008, she openly expressed her intent to vote for him. On October 26, 2008, Hasselbeck appeared at Republican rallies in Florida, introducing Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Controversies on The View

Hasselbeck has been involved in a number of contentious political debates on The View.

On August 2, 2006, Hasselbeck got into a heated debate in which she strongly opposed the Food and Drug Administration's plan to sell the "morning after pill" as an over-the-counter drug. Hasselbeck stated, "I believe that life begins at the moment of conception." She said the pill should be banned even in cases of rape and incest, because "life still has value." Hasselbeck argued that advocates of the drug use the "rape or incest" exception as a "bait-and-switch" distraction from the goal of making it universally accessible. She argued if the "rape or incest" exception was all advocates cared about, they would not support its over-the-counter status.

On May 23, 2007, Hasselbeck was involved in a heated on-air argument with co-host Rosie O'Donnell concerning the war in Iraq, which she supports and O'Donnell opposes. When O'Donnell rhetorically asked, "655,000 Iraqi civilians dead. Who are the terrorists?" O'Donnell was criticized by conservative commentators for her question and she (O'Donnell) complained about Hasselbeck's unwillingness to defend O'Donnell's statements in the controversy that followed. Hasselbeck responded, "Defend your own insinuations" and responded that she shouldn't have to defend anyone else's words for them, especially when that person has a forum with which to present a defense.

On May 23, 2007, actress Alicia Silverstone was a guest on ABC's The View. Moments before Silverstone entered, hosts Rosie O'Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck had the aforementioned heated argument regarding the Iraq war. The video segment shows Silverstone entering and walking past Hasselbeck to greet the other hosts. Though the interview continued normally and featured easy conversation between Silverstone and Hasselbeck, Access Hollywood deemed the act a deliberate snub. Hasselbeck later revealed, on an episode of The View which aired September 19, 2007, that Silverstone called and apologized for the incident. Hasselbeck said that Silverstone never meant to be rude, but was simply nervous when she walked on the stage and believed that incident was wrongly perceived by the media.

On October 3, 2007, Hasselbeck and The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg got into a discussion about Hillary Clinton's new $5,000 baby entitlement, which became heated when Hasselbeck stated it would lead to fewer abortions due to women wanting to keep the money.

On January 21, 2008, Hasselbeck and her The View co-hosts were discussing the idea of whether it is harder to elect an African-American or female president. When asked, "Is the country more racist than sexist?" by co-host Joy Behar, Hasselbeck was quick to respond with "Don't we have the answer already? Wasn't a black man able to walk into a voting booth long before a woman?" Co-host Whoopi Goldberg responded by saying that a woman was able to vote long before an African-American. Although the 1965 Voting Rights Act outlawed widespread disenfranchisement of African-American voters, the first African-American to vote under the 15th Amendment was Thomas Mundy Peterson in 1870, while the first woman to vote under the 19th Amendment was Marie Ruoff Byrum in 1920. Among the states, black men were able to vote in numerous states before Wyoming was admitted to the union in 1890 and became the first American state to have female suffrage.

On September 7, 2008, Hasselbeck, describing Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama's appearances on The View at a luncheon said "Cindy came into our hair and makeup room, fresh as can be, and unlike another wife of a political candidate who shall remain nameless, she didn't come with a list of topics that we weren't allowed to touch. Nope, that's because she has nothing to hide."

Personal life

On July 6, 2002, Filarski married her college boyfriend Tim Hasselbeck, a former quarterback in the NFL and the brother of Seattle Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck. The couple have daughter Grace Elisabeth Hasselbeck (April 6, 2005), and son Taylor Thomas Hasselbeck (November 9, 2007).

Hasselbeck is also a supporter of breast cancer awareness initiatives. Her latest support of the cause comes in the form of an internet only PSA on Celebrity Breast Cancer Diagnosis, which can be viewed on YouTube and/or the website BreastCancerAwareness.com.

External links

• The View bio
• Elisabeth Hasselbeck at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com person