Hasselbeck Discusses Spat With O'Donnell

Elisabeth Hasselbeck says she tried to keep her cool during her heated on-air spat with Rosie O'Donnell on The View earlier this year.

''I almost had the same feeling in me as when I had a championship (softball) game and I was up to bat and the pressure was on,'' the 30-year-old cohost tells Pregnancy magazine. ''I'm very lucky that tears didn't come out. But unfortunately when a woman cries, it's never seen as a sign of strength and never seen in a positive light.''

O'Donnell, 45, left The View in May. She chose to depart the ABC daytime talk show earlier than planned following her on-air confrontation with Hasselbeck.

Hasselbeck, who is pregnant with her second child, remains one of the chatfest's more conservative voices.

''Being a conservative mother isn't the challenge,'' says Hasselbeck, who appears on the cover of the magazine's November issue, on newsstands Tuesday. ''Being a conservative in New York City on television is the challenge.''

Hasselbeck announced her pregnancy in April. She and her husband, Tim Hasselbeck, have a 2-year-old daughter, Grace.

She says motherhood has validated the strong opinions for which she has been criticized.

''Once I had Grace, I had more reassurance and affirmation as to why I have felt the things I've felt for a long time,'' she says. ''And as a mom, now I want to make sure that the decisions I'm making and the votes that I'm casting are going to create long-term benefits for Grace and my next child and, hopefully, more to come after that.'' (AP)