Kathy Griffin, who announced her decision to leave Fashion Police last week, opened up about what led to her premature departure from the E! show on The View Monday.

Kathy Griffin On ‘Fashion Police’ Exit

Griffin appeared on ABC’s The View Monday to talk about why – after only 7 episodes – she’d decided to walk away from her coveted position on the Fashion Police panel, taking over for the late Joan Rivers.

“My style is improvisational and off the cuff, and they [at Fashion Police] have a formula that worked so well with Joan, and so well for so long, and it just didn’t fit my thing,” she said. “And after a while, I kind of felt like I was being forced to comment about pictures of beautiful women in perfect dresses, and say kind of bad things. … As a feminist and a comic, it just didn’t feel like the right fit for me.”

Griffin, acknowledging that she makes jabs at people as a comedian, explained that it’s all about context, pointing out the teasing she does to journalist Anderson Cooper during their New Year’s Eve special. She also noted that the scripted format of Fashion Police is a far cry from the standup she’s accustomed to.

“You’re kind of vulnerable [doing standup] — you’re there with a microphone and the audience, and you’re hoping to take this audience on a ride,” said Griffin. “It’s a little different than what felt to me sort of like a dog-pile. Right now, on the red carpet, all these women look so great, I was hoping we could talk about the events themselves and the shows, so I didn’t want to say that Meryl Streep didn’t look great, because she looked great. So sometimes it felt disingenuous to me. … But certainly, in my repertoire, I’ve said heinous things — I’m well aware of that, trust me!”

“They had a very strict lane that they wanted me in,” Griffin added. ” I go for people, but I wouldn’t hold up a picture of Kim Kardashian and say, ‘She’s ugly, good night.’ I wouldn’t hold up a picture of Oprah [Winfrey] and say, ‘She’s fat, good night.’ … I go for behavior as stuff to play with.”

Griffin, who pointed out that Giuliana Rancic‘s controversial comment about Zendaya‘s hair was scripted by a male writer, said that ultimately she wasn’t exactly sure what she was getting herself into until she signed on to Fashion Police.

“I was told they would happily sign onto my style and all that other stuff, but it’s kind of like buying a house: you don’t know until you spend the first night there, if there’s a dog that barks next door or if there’s a neighbor that’s a certain way. And I really didn’t know until I took the seat,” she said. “But no harm, no foul — they were very nice to me, and it just wasn’t the right thing for me.”

Fashion Police, which also had to deal with co-host Kelly Osbourne leaving earlier this month, plans to forge ahead covering celebrity fashion.