B. Smith’s stepdaughter took two hosts of The View, Whoopi Goldberg and Sunny Hostin, to task over comments they made regarding Smith’s husband Dan Gasby’s relationship with girlfriend Alex Lerner while he takes care of Smith, who is battling Alzheimer’s.
People Magazine reported that the former model turned restaurant owner and cookbook author shares a home with Gasby, stepdaughter Dana, and Gasby’s girlfriend Lerner. Smith was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2013.
Dana Gasby spoke to People for a segment of its story on the relationship between Lerner and her father where she criticized The View hosts after they commented on Dan Gasby’s romance. The conflict began when Goldberg and Hostin commented on Smith’s condition on the ABC talk show.
The co-hosts discussed Dan Gasby’s decision to allow the Washington Post to take a video of Smith suffering from the disease, reported People .
“I didn’t want to see B look like that,” commented Goldberg. Hostin concurred, remarking, “I find it very disrespectful that he is with his wife and disrespecting her by being with his girlfriend in their home.”
Dana Gasby clapped back at the hosts by remarking to People , “these fraudulent friends know nothing. I have not seen them here. They don’t call my family. I see them talking on TV and how do you know what your supposed ‘friend’ would want?”
Dan Gasby reportedly has the full support of his daughter in his relationship with Alex Lerner.
He sat down for an interview with the Today Show and claimed that the backlash he has received since revealing his current romantic and living situation has been intense.
“The 800-pound gorilla in this situation is she’s white,” Gasby told Al Roker.
“It spun out of control to ‘I’m having an affair. This woman [Lerner], because of who she is, is taking B’s money. We’re abusing B. B wouldn’t want this.’ These people have never even talked to B,” said Gasby to Al Roker regarding the Washington Post story and the backlash he has experienced thereafter.
Dan Gasby told Roker that he was “depressed and lonely” after his wife’s diagnosis and the onset of her disease. When he met Lerner, whose father also battled Alzheimer’s, he found someone he could talk to who understood what he was going through in taking care of a loved one who fought this disease.
Gasby sat down for an interview with The View on February 7 where he spoke to Hostin regarding her feelings toward his current living situation with Smith and his girlfriend Lerner. Goldberg was absent from the show. After restating her feelings toward the couple’s situation, where Lerner is allowed to live in the home Smith and Gasby share, she explained that “B. can’t consent to that.”
Gasby replied that he and Smith had a plan set in place after her diagnosis back in 2013, including several key issues regarding her care and her wish for his future, per a report by People.
“She said to me, ‘I want you to go on,’” he said. “I’m not doing anything we didn’t discuss.”
The Alzheimer’s Association explains the disease to be a type of dementia that causes problems with memory, thinking and behavior. Symptoms usually develop slowly and get worse over time, becoming severe enough to interfere with daily tasks.
The View airs weekdays on ABC.
