Kara DioGuardi to Guest Co-Host 'The View'

Sept. 21, 2009 -- It will be "American Idol" judge Kara DioGuardi's second appearance on ABC's "The View," but it will be her first as a guest co-host.

DioGuardi will co-host ABC's talk show Oct. 15 in place of Elisabeth Hasselbeck, who is on maternity leave until mid-October.

The singer/songwriter is no stranger to being the new kid on the panel.

The public was used to the threesome of Simon, Paula and Randy when she joined the cast of "Idol" in its eighth season. This season, she'll be the old hand when Ellen DeGeneres joins the judging table in place of Paula Abdul.

DioGuardi made her first appearance on "The View" in May when she dished about perceived sexuality of "Idol" runner-up Adam Lambert.

"I don't think Adam [Lambert] was ever in [the closet]," she told the ladies of "The View," Barbara Walters, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd and Hasselbeck. "I think he was always openly out. I think he was. I mean, you know from what I've seen in various forms of things, I do. I never thought he wasn't."

DioGuardi is a music insider in her own right off the small screen. She has worked with such superstars as Celine Dion, Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus and Carrie Underwood. Pink's current hit song, "Sober," was penned by DioGuardi.

She is just one of many personalities who will be keeping Hasselbeck's seat warm in her absence. Singer Gloria Estefan, former "View" co-host Lisa Ling, "Ugly Betty" star Ana Ortiz, and comic actress Alexandra Wentworth are just a few of the faces who'll join the chat fray. The show has already seen the likes of Kate Gosselin and La Toya Jackson in the past few weeks.