Rachel Bilson Responds To Criticism From The View's Whoopi Goldberg For Judging Men's Lack Of Sexual Partners

Rachel Bilson wants to clarify a few things after her podcast comments drew a sharp rebuke from The View's Whoopi Goldberg.

To recap: Bilson admitted on a recent episode of her Broad Ideas podcast that she might have judged a guy she's dating "if a dude's in his 40s and he's slept with, like, [only] four women." She later backtracked, saying: "It all depends. Maybe he's been in, like, decade-[long] relationships, which is fully respectable... It's not fair for me to say, either way."

But her original comment set off Goldberg, who criticized Bilson on Thursday's episode of The View: "I think it's very odd that you're concerned that he's had any sexual partners. Why is it your business? It's not your business... [If] he's happy with you, and you're having a good time, why you bitching?"

Bilson emphasizes that her original comment isn't what she truly believes in a new statement to EW.com: "The point I get across is that [a man's sexual history] doesn't matter, and maybe in the past, I would've looked at it [judgmentally], but I wouldn't do that anymore... It was a flippant comment that I was just talking with friends, and then I retracted it, because even talking about it now... I don't actually believe that."

She encourages everyone to listen to the full podcast to get the proper context: "If you go on to listen to the conversation as a whole, and hear what I have to say, it actually isn't what was first presented. I think it's important to hear a whole conversation before casting your own judgment or criticism on something."

As for Goldberg, Bilson adds: "I want to say that I've been a fan of Whoopi's for a very long time, so when I saw the tagline that she criticized something I said, I of course was concerned."