Why the Co-Host Is Missing

Sara Haines is doing her civic duty.

When The View opened its episode on Monday, Sept. 29, viewers took note that Haines, 48, was missing from the lineup of co-hosts as Whoopi Goldberg, Ana Navarro, Sunny Hostin and Alyssa Farah Griffin walked over to and took their seats at the “Hot Topics” table.

It didn’t take long for Haines’ absence to be addressed.

“Sara is not here today,” Goldberg, 69, said in the episode’s opening remarks. “She’s on jury duty.”

The studio audience groaned in response upon hearing why Haines was missing from the show.

“They might pick her, too,” Griffin, 56, said of her co-host, with Hostin, 36, agreeing. Goldberg hilariously quipped back, “Well, let’s not wish that on her.”

Also missing from the panel was Joy Behar, who typically takes Mondays off. Goldberg, similarly, typically misses Friday shows.

Haines first joined The View in 2016 and remained on the show until 2018, when she began co-hosting GMA Day alongside Good Morning America co-anchor Michael Strahan. The show was initially renamed Strahan and Sara before it was rebranded Strahan, Sara and Keke when actress Keke Palmer joined the co-hosts.

During a recent episode of Danielle Robay’s Question Everything podcast, Haines called the show “a failed experiment from the beginning” and recalled falling “into some really dark places” amid the “pressure” to live up to her co-hosts, who were already big names.

Haines recalled feeling like she was treated differently after returning to host the show after welcoming her third child with husband Max Shifrin and said she “cried every day.”

Despite having “loved” her co-hosts, Haines said she “couldn’t wait to leave.”

Luckily for her, The View came calling and she returned as co-host beginning in 2020.

“Every fall you have you take something with you, and I came back with a louder voice,” Haines said of what she took away from Strahan, Sara and Keke. “I heard myself.”

Haines recently celebrated her 48th birthday by sharing two photos of her and Shifrin and one of her with their three children: daughter Sandra and sons Alec and Caleb.

“Heart full, thanks to them. 🤍,” she captioned the Instagram post.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

The View airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.