After nearly a month away from"The View" due to a shoulder injury, longtime host Joy Behar finally made a grand return to the daytime talk show.
The 84-year-old cohost received a standing ovation and cries of admiration from the crowd as she walked in, escorted by Sara Haines, at the start of the Tuesday, Oct. 27, broadcast.
"I see that you played 'The Bitch Is Back,'" Behar said, referring to the Elton John song that played as the women took their seats at the table. "You should’ve played 'God Save the Queen.'"
"Thank you for that extremely lovely welcome," Behar added once she was seated.
When Sunny Hostin and Alyssa Farah Griffin emphasized how much they missed Behar, she painted a vivid picture of the fall that led to her weeks-long hiatus.
"I missed you all, too, that’s why I came back today," she said. "I fell bad. I mean, I went down hard in this building, and I dislocated my shoulder. I don't know if that's ever happened to anybody; it's worse than childbirth. I would've given up names to the CIA for that kind of torture."
She reminisced about the Hot Topics she missed, notably when President Donald Trump complimented Nicki Minaj's behind during a rally in border city Port Huron, Michigan.
"Even when I went down and went to the hospital, the doctor didn't even look at my a-- like that, with such love and affection," she joked.
Behar also explained that while she was away, she underwent an MRI scan and was sedated for three hours. "I was asleep the whole time," Behar said. "It was like sex."
Goldberg said she was "glad" Behar got the MRI, pointing out that Behar had previously expressed initial resistance toward the body-scanning medical device.
"I'm claustrophobic," Behar reasoned. "All Italians are claustrophobic."
What happened to Joy Behar?
Hostin first announced Behar's absence on Oct. 1, revealing on air that the comedian had suffered a shoulder injury.
"Unfortunately, our dear friend Joy dislocated her shoulder," Hostin said during the show, adding that Behar was "recovering and will be back soon."
It's not the first unexpected health concern for the longtime host. In a July 6 broadcast, Behar said she was experiencing dizzy spells and applied acupuncture in an effort to remedy it.
"Between the Botox, the Ozempic and the acupuncture, I'm, like, full of needles, more than a drug addict," she said.
Years earlier, during a March 2022 taping, Beharfell out of her chair and detailed the serious ramifications of another bad fall.
"Well, I fall a lot," Behar said at the time. "The main thing, just to talk seriously, when Bob Saget fell, he died. If you hit your head and you feel dizzy or you have blurred vision or you feel like you want to go to sleep, go to the doctor because that will kill you."
How old is Joy Behar?
Amid her extended absence, Behar turned 84, and missed the talk show's celebration of her birthday. She's been on the Barbara Walters-created talk show since its debut in 1997. And at the Season 30 premiere in September, Goldberg celebrated Behar for hostingmore seasons of an American talk show than any other woman.
During the Oct. 27 broadcast, the ladies chimed in with an outpouring of gratitude for Behar.
“We’re together a lot, and so when one of us is not around, you feel it,” Goldberg said.
Behar was in agreement, telling Goldberg, "I remember when you were away with your pneumonia. It doesn't feel right."
The other women chimed in too, with Haines emphasizing how they're a "family," and Hostin adding, "We've done it all together."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Joy Behar returns to 'The View' after shoulder injury – 'Worse than childbirth'
