"The View" host Joy Behar has been heavily criticised after saying on the show that U.S. vice-president Mike Pence had a "mental illness" for hearing from God.

"It's one thing to talk to Jesus. It's another thing when Jesus talks to you. That's called mental illness, if I'm not correct - hearing voices," she had said.

The ABC network received over 30,000 phone calls because of her statement, prompting Disney CEO Bob Iger to get Behar to apologise to Pence for what she said. When she did so privately, Pence accepted her apology but encouraged her to make her apology public since she had clearly offended so many other people.

Behar took his advice and did so on Tuesday. "I think Vice President Pence is right. I was raised to respect everyone's religious faith, and I fell short of that. I sincerely apologise for what I said," she told viewers.

After she made the controversial statement, Pence said that it was unacceptable for ABC to broadcast a forum that compared Christianity to "mental illness." He said, "It is simply wrong for ABC to have a television program that expresses that kind of religious intolerance."

But after Behar reached out to him, Pence said during an appearance on Fox News earlier this week that he appreciated how the situation was handled. He was even impressed with the way "The View" host reached out to him.

"I give Joy Behar a lot of credit. She picked up the phone. She called me. She was very sincere, and she apologised," he said.

The vice president said it was important for him to defend the Christian faith and his fellow believers, but now that Behar has said sorry, it's time to highlight God's grace.

"One of the things my faith teaches me is grace: forgive as you've been forgiven," he said.