Sherri Shepherd says Rosie O'Donnell shared 'everybody's salary' to help her get more money on 'The View' — and it inspired her to do the same for Sunny Hostin years later

• Sunny Hostin credited Sherri Shepherd for helping her with salary negotiations for "The View."
• "She got me paid," Hostin told the audience of Shepherd's talk show on Wednesday.
• Shepherd shared salary information because Rosie O'Donnell did the same for her years earlier.

On Wednesday's episode of Sherri Shepherd's Fox talk show "Sherri," she and her guest Sunny Hostin discussed why they negotiated their salaries before signing their initial contracts for "The View" and how Rosie O'Donnell helped them realize the importance of discussing money openly. 

"She got me paid," Hostin told the audience of Shepherd, joking that she didn't know how Shepherd even got her number.

"You basically went over your salary for the entire time you were there, and you also gave me Jenny McCarthy's salary," Hostin recalled to the host. 

Shepherd explained that she made the gesture because Rosie O'Donnell had done the same for her and told her "everybody's salary" when Shepherd was negotiating her own deal with the daytime talk show.

Hostin joined "The View" in 2016 and remains on the panel of hosts today. Shepherd joined the show in 2007 and remained a cohost until 2014, departing two years before Hostin joined. O'Donnell did two brief stints on the long-running talk show, first hosting from 2006 to 2007, before returning in 2014 and leaving again in 2015.

"You gotta pay it forward," Shepherd said on her show Wednesday.

Shepherd previously shared the story of how O'Donnell helped her get a better deal with People in 2018. "If Rosie O'Donnell had not told me what her salary was, I would've gotten something so low. I'm not gonna lie, I made a lot of money on 'The View,' she said. 

Shepherd told People in 2018 that when it comes to money and other provisions in contracts, "nobody shares, and as women, we have to do that."

On Wednesday's episode of "Sherri," Hostin shared that her conversation with Shepherd helped her realize that she should ask for accommodations beyond money, like a "car stipend." 

The women didn't reveal their salaries or any other specifics of their respective contracts, but Hostin said that after talking with Shepherd, she called her agent and told them, "You did not get me enough money!"

Insider has reached out to a representative of "The View" for comment.