Rumors have been spreading about Elisabeth Hasselbeck leaving 'The View' for weeks. This weekend, New York Post's Page Six reported that despite Barbara Walters' claims to the contrary, Hasselbeck will still leave The View before her "long term contract" is up.

Last week, Barbara Walters firmly denied rumors that Elisabeth Hasselbeck would leave The View.

But the Post claimed that ABC is "desperate to freshen" The View and improve ratings, and that getting rid of Joy Behar and Elisabeth Hasselbeck seemed to be the best way to do it.

Behar announced her exit recently, but "enemies" reportedly leaked Hasselbeck's departure from The View to the press.

"Barbara was spitting mad that [Hasselbeck's departure] got mishandled, and called off the firing [last] weekend," a source told the Post.

Us Weekly is now reporting that ABC and Walters were trying to "save face" by calling off Hasselbeck's departure from The View.

Last week, Waters said, "We have no plans for Elisabeth to leave this show... When one of you makes the choice to leave, that is your choice, and we will support your decision."

The source continued to say that the door is still open if Hasselbeck wants to make an early exit from the morning show.

Hasselbeck will still "announce she is leaving on her own when she is ready," according to the anonymous source.

Hasselbeck's contract expires in 2014, but the source told the Post, "They easily could coax her to go early."

The source continued, "They don't want to make [Hasselbeck] look bad and they don't want to make the show look bad for canning her...They just want to make it seem like Elisabeth decided to leave on her own when the announcement comes."

Although Hasselbeck drama seems to be far from over, Joy Behar's place on The View still needs to be filled. ShowBiz 411 reported that Brooke Shields was the frontrunner for Behar's spot, while the Post claims Christie Brinkley and Ali Wentworth are vying for the position.