Star Jones Reynolds sorry for wedding spectacle

Star Jones Reynolds

LOS ANGELES - Newly fired co-host of "The View," Star Jones Reynolds, has apologized to fans for getting "caught in the euphoria" of marital bliss when she planned her lavish, freebie-filled wedding in 2004.

Reynolds' mea culpa for behavior that earned her the label "Bridezilla" in tabloid headlines two years ago came during an appearance on NBC's "Today" show, one of several interviews she has given since her messy departure from "The View" this week.

ABC and Barbara Walters, creator, executive producer and lead host of "The View," has said the negative publicity surrounding Reynolds' wedding extravaganza was a key factor in turning viewers against her, which ultimately cost Reynolds her job.

The former prosecutor, then known as Star Jones, came under fire around the time of her November 2004 wedding to Al Reynolds when she accepted expensive wedding supplies and services for free, donated by corporate "sponsors" in return for publicity.

Reynolds, 44, acknowledged that she had gotten carried away with her nuptials.

"I don't think I took the viewers on the right journey with me, and I want to apologize for that," she said. "I was a 40-year-old who, according to urban legend, had a better chance of being kidnapped by a terrorist than getting married. And I was caught in the euphoria. And I think I used, and some would say abused, my celebrity in planning the wedding."

If she had it to do over again, Reynolds added, "I would be more humble, and I would allow them to see the genuine character of who I am, which I hope they see right now."

But Reynolds was less forthcoming about another issue that ABC and Walters said came up in network research last year showing that Reynolds was falling out of favor with viewers - her abrupt and dramatic weight loss.

While Reynolds is widely assumed to have shed more than 100 pounds with the help of gastric bypass surgery, she has never publicly acknowledged undergoing such an operation while promoting the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.

Asked about the issue by Roker, who himself has undergone gastric bypass, Reynolds would only say that "a medical intervention, doctors, had to step in to save my life." And she said found it "disheartening" that ABC "would use something so private ... at this moment."

Reynolds touched off a wave of public blood-letting when she caught Walters and ABC off guard by announcing on Tuesday's broadcast of "The View" that she would end her nine-year tenure on the show in July.

That same day, People magazine published excerpts of an interview in which Reynolds complained she had been given notice days before learning that Rosie O'Donnell, one of her most vocal critics, would be joining the show in the (northern) autumn.

Walters, who had clasped hands with Reynolds, warmly wished her well and led the studio audience in a standing ovation on Tuesday, opened the next day's show with the frosty declaration that Reynolds was not welcome back.

Walters later said that she felt betrayed that Reynolds refused to stick to an understanding she had reached with ABC to leave the show with "dignity" - by inventing a reason for her exit that the network and "The View" would support.

- REUTERS/VNU