The View’s Sunny Hostin recalls ‘tough times’ growing up in The Bronx without heating and hot water as she insists she still has ‘insecurities’ and thinks people often ‘confuse her confidence with arrogance’

The View’s Sunny Hostin talks about her “tough” childhood growing up in project housing in The Bronx, without heat or hot water.

Sunny, 54, has made no secret of the fact that she grew up in poverty on a fifth-floor apartment belonging to her parents Rosa and William.

But the lawyer and TV presenter has revealed more telling things about her younger years Paolo Presta that she knew she wanted to break the cycle and “get out of that situation” after witnessing her mother’s “suffering.”

When asked what her younger self would tell her now, she said, “It’s going to get so much better. Those were actually tough times.’

The View’s Sunny Hostin has opened up about how ‘hard’ it was growing up as a child in project housing in The Bronx, New York City

The 54-year-old admitted that she witnessed her mother Rosa’s ‘suffering’ as a child (pictured)

Sunny said her father William (left) was “strong” despite living in a house without heating or hot water.

“That’s across from Morris Avenue, a tenement building before we could move to the projects,” she said of a photo of her old house.

When speaking about why she was determined to better herself, she continued, “This would absolutely not be the cycle for my children. And I wanted to get my mother out of there too. My mother suffered… my father was strong, but my mother suffered. We would all get out of that situation.”

The View host confirmed that her “sweet” mother now lives with her and husband Emmanuel and their two children in Purchase, New York.

Elsewhere, Sunny also opened up about how she “earned trust” and revealed how a CNN producer’s announcement that she wasn’t good enough to anchor her own show has left her with insecurities.

“Not only was I told that I would never be able to host my own show, I was used to auditioning other people for the show I wanted to host,” Sunny told Paolo.

‘And I did it for the money. I’ve got two kids in school, I’ve got a husband who, even though he’s a surgeon, he likes to do a lot of charity work, which is great… and I kept doing it, and every time I did it, it would affect my self-confidence.’

When Paolo described Sunny as someone who had “so much confidence” on The View, she responded: “People confuse confidence with arrogance. I’m actually the least arrogant person I think you’ll meet because I still have those insecurities.

‘It has created confidence. I only have confidence when I talk about the law, or about the love I have for my children and my husband, I have confidence in that… always. I am confident in my faith, I believe that all people are created equal and are meant to be treated with humanity.

The TV star confirmed that her “sweet” mother Rosa lives with her in Purchase, New York

Sunny pictured with Whoopi Goldberg, Abby Huntsman, Bill Geddie, Joy Behar and Meghan McCain in 2019

The mother of two opened up about her life and career during an interview with Paolo Presta

‘I have confidence in all those things and that’s what you see. Other things… I’m not arrogant at all, it’s just the confidence earned with life experience.’

Sunny also took the opportunity to pay tribute to The View co-creator Bill Geddie, who passed away in July, while sharing the advice she would give to her younger self.

“I’d give that Sunny the advice that Bill Geddie gave me after I kind of botched my first audition,” she said. ‘He said, “You watched the show like a tennis match, you weren’t on the show, that’s not who I’m auditioning for, lean into it, you can do it”.

‘And my advice would be, ‘Lean on everything,’ and you see that every day. Sometimes I lean too far forward and I’m like, “Oh boy, let’s see what Instagram thinks about that!” And our poor PR person usually goes, “Oh God!”

“But I lean in and I would tell her to do that, to be authentically herself and to be authentic. Sunny leans forward. There’s really no gray area for me, I’m trying to get there, I’m much more of a black or white person, this is right, this is wrong.”

Sunny was a regular guest contributor on The View beginning in 2012, before landing a permanent co-host role for the show’s twentieth season in September 2016.

The full interview with Sunny Hostin op A spoonful of Paolo can now be viewed on YouTube.