More changes are in the works at ABC's The View: Rosie Perez is leaving the show. Executive Producer Bill Wolff informed the staff today about Perez, the White Men Can't Jump actress who joined the ABC talker last September.
"Our friend Rosie Perez has decided to leave the show at the conclusion of this season to pursue full time her love for acting," Wolff's email said. "Stepping into the role of talk show host and at the same time has been starring on Broadway has been incredibly impressive. And beyond being an enormously talented performer, Rosie is a dedicated advocate who has brought passion and insight to the panel every day.
Rosie will always be a part of The View family, and we will welcome her back as a guest anytime to catch up. We'll plan a proper send off for her in a few weeks, but in the meantime, please join me in thanking her for her great work on the show." Back in the winter, Perez sparked rumors that she was getting the boot after she took a hiatus to appear in a Broadway play. When The View didn't give a return date, speculation swirled that the post-Barbara Walters panel wasn't cutting the mustard and Perez was on her way out.
Perez was born in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York to mother Lydia Perez and Ismael Serrano, a merchant marine seaman. Her parents, who were both from Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, were married to other people when they met-she is the product of their affair.
She was born at the now-closed Greenpoint Hospital in the Greenpoint neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. Perez became a ward of the state when her mother took her from an aunt, who had been raising her. She was transferred to a group foster home at age 3 and lived in foster care in New York and Peekskill until age 8, and was still legally considered a ward of the State of New York until age 12 years. Her mother and aunt frequently visited, and her father made an unsuccessful custody bid at one point. She has five brothers and sisters from her mother's marriage to her mother's first husband, Ventura Perez, but also has additional half-brothers and half-sisters (a total of 10 children).
