“One of the most painful things to ever happen to me”: Rosie O’Donnell on the Ellen betrayal that broke her heart
Sitting down with podcaster Katie Langbroek for “No Filter” podcast, O’Donnell recently dished on the incident that brought her friendship with fellow sapphic pioneer Ellen DeGeneres to a crashing halt.
Mark
Since breaking up with her toxic ex, the United States, and relocating to greener climes, Rosie O’Donnell is thriving. She’s enjoying peaceful weekends in Ireland with her friends and family, and staying blissfully unbothered by the bully tactics of That Man in the White House. And we love to see it!
But there was a time when things weren’t so rosy. Sitting down with podcaster Katie Langbroek for “No Filter” podcast, O’Donnell recently dished on the incident that brought her friendship with fellow sapphic pioneer Ellen DeGeneres to a crashing halt.
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Langbroek’s podcast takes an in-depth look at guest’s lives, leaving no juicy stone unturned. When Rosie came to record, they discussed her childhood, the impact of Tr*mp’s incessant bullying on her mental health, and the time Ellen Degeneres pulled a Mariah on her.
O’Donnell tells her host about her decision to leave her six-season talk show The Rosie O’Donnell Show after she turned 40. Rosie’s own mother died at 40, and she didn’t want to follow in her footsteps, preferring to leave the stress of the show behind and focus on spending time with her family.
But when Ellen was interviewed about O’Donnell’s choice on Larry King, she had some less than kind words to say about her former friend.
“Larry King asked her—and Kelly and I were in bed watching it—he asked her ‘whatever happened to Rosie O’Donnell, her show went down the tubes!’ And Ellen said, ‘I don’t know Rosie, we’re not friends.'”
Wow. Not an “I don’t know her!” In gay terms, that’s about as cold as it gets.
“That was… one of the most painful things to ever happen to me in show business,” O’Donnell told Langbroek.
O’Donnell and DeGeneres were indeed friends, with DeGeneres even coming out on O’Donnell’s talk show back in 1996 before the infamous Ellen episode. But the two fell out over the years, and the friendship has never been mended.
Langbroek asks O’Donnell why she thinks Ellen would disavow their friendship publicly, and O’Donnell explains that to this day, she doesn’t know.
“I have photos of her holding my newborn babies,” she says. “I knew her for 30 years.”
O’Donnell found Ellen’s words so hurtful that she had t-shirts made with the statement: “I don’t know Rosie, we’re not friends.” She gave them out to her staff—but what she should have done is sold them on Etsy, because I know more than a few takers for that iconic merch. LGBTQ+ history matters!
According to Rosie, the two have never really reconciled since that time. We’ve seen Ellen face a soft cancellation that went on to become a hard cancellation in recent years, while Rosie has become ever more beloved in the eyes of the community.
But listen, if ever these two want to put their differences behind them, we’ll be here for it. Until then, we wish Rosie nothing but a beautiful life in Ireland far away from the Orange Menace, where she can view Ellen’s karmic retribution play out from a healthy distance.
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