Creator of �The View� Barbara Walters has hit back against Star Jones Reynolds comments about why she left the show and why she has claimed she feels like she was fired.

Star announced live on the show yesterday that she would be leaving the show at the end of July, however after she spoke out about her departure to People magazine ABC made the decision to terminate her contract and she was told not to return.

According to PageSix.com, Walters said of Star�s surprise move: "I love Star and I was trying to do everything I possibly could - up until this morning, when I was betrayed - to protect her,"

"I would have loved for Star to have left and not said, 'I was fired,' and not make it look like the program was somehow being cruel to her,"

Walters also claimed that the decision to not renew Star�s contract had been ABC�s idea: "We tried to talk them out of it and we tried to give Star time to redeem herself in the eyes of the audience,"

A show source has claimed that Star made her announcement on live TV so as to turn viewers against the show: "She took back some control and it doesn't look good for the show,"

"She does have fans and they won't like that she was forced out for Rosie. (O�Donnell)�

Another insider added: "She was always very self-absorbed and was always putting the show and the company [ABC] in a very funny position,"

"She would compromise everything by demanding and getting free stuff - breaching all sorts of [ABC owner] Disney policies."
On �The View� this morning Walter�s attempted to make light of the situation and according to Perez Hilton said: "And then there were three,"

"Star made the announcement yesterday that she was leaving the show, and we were surprised by her announcement yesterday. However, Star also made some other announcements yesterday that have been quite unpleasant.

�The truth is, Star has known that she was leaving the show for quite some time now and the network refused to renew her contract for reasons that I will not go into now.

�However, we wanted to give her extra time to find a new job and exit the show gracefully. We told her she could say anything she wanted to, but she made other announcements yesterday as well. The View made Star a star, and Star made the View a successful show. We wish her all the best."

Will Star be as gracious???