TV News

Sherri Shepherd Addresses Abortion Comments

By Ivory Jeff Clinton

07/23/2008 at 03:15 PM EDT

The View co-host Sherri Shepherd is not "flippant" about abortion, she said Wednesday while addressing some controversial comments she gave to a magazine on the subject recently.

Shepherd, 41, told the Christian magazine Precious Times that she had undergone "more abortions than I can count" during her twenties. But the article, Shepherd said, did not tell the whole story.

"The full quote was I suffer from a lot of shame and guilt, and I didn't know how to forgive myself," said Shepherd, clarifying her comments in the current cover story.

In the publication, geared toward churchgoing black women, she credited her conversion to Christianity with saving her from a lifestyle of "sleeping with a lot of guys."

"This is something I went through," she explained during the opening segment of the talk show. "I like to inspire women who go through a lot of shame and guilt [because] I too went through it."

Shepherd's quotes in the magazine sparked a hubbub on the Internet this week, but she says, "I just wanted people to know I wasn't being flippant about abortions."

After appearing as a guest host, the former Less Than Perfect actress was hired as a regular by The View's co-creator Barbara Walters last September.