I can’t tell you how happy I am that Chelsea Handler is no longer a thing. Back in 2014, she pulled out of her E! show Chelsea Lately and the buzz was that she was moving on to bigger and better things. Handler’s publicist made sure she was mentioned to replace David Letterman, and many thought she would end up doing network TV work. Then she signed on for an ill-defined Netflix show and she kind of disappeared off everyone’s radar. I mean, she’s still active on social media and she occasionally gets stories in gossip press, but no one really cares anymore. And it’s awesome! There was always something “off” about Handler, and as it turns out, even her friends and coworkers noticed it too. During Chelsea Lately, comedian Heather McDonald was a frequent guest/contributor to the show, and Heather recently spoke about how working with Chelsea Handler means “living in fear.”
Comedian Heather McDonald doesn’t like the way she was handled by a controversial late-night star. McDonald, who was a roundtable regular on Chelsea Handler’s E! show Chelsea Lately, said she and most of the crew were scared of the host.
“I lived in fear, 100 percent lived in fear. I enjoyed my time there, I was happy, but something could happen and my heart would be beating and I’d be like ‘is this it?” she said. In a promo for Matt Weiss and Theo Von’s “Allegedly” podcast, the “You’ll Never Blue Ball in This Town Again” author felt blindsided when Handler didn’t tell people on set she was bowing out.
In July, the “Uganda Be Kidding Me” stand-up star announced she was leaving E! to work for Netflix.
“I think she’s a good person, I don’t agree with how she treats relationships in her life,” McDonald said on the podcast, which airs Tuesday. “I think she’s missing out by dumping people.” Adding: “She makes you feel so special, until you’re not.”
Handler inked a seven-year deal with Netflix. Her new four-part docuseries premieres Saturday. She’ll also launch a new talk show on the streaming service after the documentaries air.
It’s good to see some kind of confirmation of how Handler has always seemed to me: someone who can turn on a dime, someone moody, someone not really invested in personal or professional friendships unless she can get something out of it to advance herself in some way. I’ve been around people like this too: “but something could happen and my heart would be beating and I’d be like ‘is this it?’” Those people scare me.
Chelsea has already responded, obviously. Handler was on Howard Stern’s show yesterday, talking about her friendship with Jennifer Aniston and all of that. Handler said Heather sold stories about her to the tabloids and instead of firing Heather, Handler let her keep working for the show as a writer but after Handler learned of the betrayal, they were never close. You can read more about that here.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
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