During a recent episode of The View, Sara Haines’ parents received an unexpected surprise. On October 30, Whoopi Goldberg announced their presence in the audience just as Joy Behar mentioned a college relationship Haines allegedly had with a woman.
Goldberg, 68, remarked, “It’s crazy, but Sara is on the podcast today with her fabulous parents, who are here with us today,” before the cameras shifted to capture Haines’ parents in attendance.
Behar, 82, seized the moment to ask Haines, “I have to ask her a question — are you going to bring up that lesbian relationship you said you had or not? Back at Smith [College]!” Haines, 47, seemed taken aback by the question but laughed it off, playfully telling her dad, “Earmuffs! Earmuffs!”
Sara Haines recounts a past workplace romance, sharing laughs with The View co-hosts
Alyssa Farah Griffin quickly added, “That was off-air, she told us that,” prompting Sunny Hostin to remark, “Now, it’s on-air!” Taking the comment in stride, Haines quipped, “It’s a good thing my dad doesn’t always watch.” Goldberg responded humorously, “Now he will!”
Although Haines has not openly discussed her college romance previously, she did share details about dating a coworker before marrying her husband, Max Shifrin, during a May episode of The View.
“I did dip in the company ink when I was single,” she confessed. “There are right ways to do this, and wrong ways. Don’t do it in a department where there’s power dynamics. I dated someone in a completely different wing of the building, I did not deal with him daily.” She elaborated, “He was a lawyer, so of course when he told me, I had to disclose this to HR, I was like, what? We’re a thing, right?”
After her workplace romance, Haines met her now-husband Shifrin on a dating app after creating a profile for a segment on Good Morning America. Despite the challenges, she was eager to “participate” in the dating world.
Years later, while sitting alongside Shifrin as they recounted their love story, she said, “I believe you have to create your own luck, so I thought I’m not running into my boo at a produce department or tripping on him on a street, like all the rom-coms told me I would, so I need to add some effort here,” she told Yahoo! Lifestyle in 2019.
Shifrin, who admitted to having “no idea” who Haines was, stumbled upon her profile on OkCupid, and the two began dating in 2012. They married in 2014 and are now the proud parents of three children: Alec Richard, Sandra Grace, and Caleb Joseph.
