Star Jones Reynolds leaves "the View"

After the View cohost Star Jones Reynolds announced on the air Tuesday that she would leave the show in July, her network had a response: Leave now.

According to a source close to Jones Reynolds, "ABC has asked her not to return to the View tomorrow morning."

ABC could not be reached by press time, but a source close to the show confirmed that Star had been asked not to return.

Jones Reynolds, who helped launch the chatfest and spent nine years at the View table alongside Barbara Walters, Joy Behar and the newly departed Meredith Vieira, who left to replace Katie Couric on NBC's Today, says the split was anything but amicable.

"What you don't know is that my contract was not renewed for the tenth season," she tells PEOPLE exclusively. "I feel like I was fired." She adds that she got the news just days before reports surfaced that Rosie O'Donnell – one of her most vocal critics – would be joining the View in the fall.

In her announcement Tuesday, Jones Reynolds, 44, said on the air: "Something's been on my heart for a little bit, and after much prayer and counsel I feel like this is the right time to tell you that the show is moving in another direction for its tenth season and I will not be returning as cohost next year."

people