Rosie O'Donnell is taking a poignant journey down memory lane, reflecting on the demise of her once-close friendship with Ellen DeGeneres. On the September 7th episode of Mamamia's "No Filter" podcast, O'Donnell, aged 63, recounted how her bond with DeGeneres, now 67, unraveled following a revealing 2004 interview on "Larry King Live." During that interview, the former TV show host sensationally declared that she was not friends with O'Donnell.
According to the "Now and Then" actress, DeGeneres found herself in a "similar position" to the one O'Donnell had faced seven years earlier, when DeGeneres publicly came out as gay on her sitcom in 1997. "Instead of choosing to stand by my side and hold my hand, as I had done for her, she did the exact opposite," O'Donnell lamented, referring to her unwavering support for DeGeneres during her coming-out journey. "That was, without a doubt, one of the most agonizing experiences I've ever endured in show business, or in my entire life," the comedian confessed, her voice tinged with emotion, as she recalled DeGeneres' stark comment. "I was stunned. I have cherished photos of her cradling my newborn babies. We'd been friends for three decades."
O'Donnell revealed that she "would have gladly apologized" to DeGeneres, acknowledging that "in her mind, she might believe I keep revisiting this for my own amusement." "But I don't dwell on it for pleasure," she clarified, her tone resolute. "I revisit it because our careers have taken remarkably parallel, intertwined paths."
In 2022, O'Donnell revisited the same heart-wrenching tale during an appearance on "Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen," and that interview eventually found its way back to DeGeneres. The following year, O'Donnell shared with The Hollywood Reporter that her former friend had reached out to express her regrets. "She texted me a few weeks ago, checking in, asking how I was doing, and I inquired about how she was coping with not being on TV anymore. It's a significant transition," O'Donnell recounted. "I suppose she saw me discuss it on Andy Cohen's show," she mused, referring to DeGeneres. "She wrote, 'I'm truly sorry, and I don't recall saying that.'"
In stark contrast, O'Donnell told the outlet that she "remembered it all too vividly," to the extent that she "had T-shirts printed and distributed them to my staff, with the slogan 'I don't know Rosie. We're not friends.'" "I knew her for so many years," she said of DeGeneres, her voice tinged with disappointment. "It just made me feel like, I can't trust this person to be a part of my life."
Following O'Donnell's relocation to Ireland earlier this year, the rift between her and DeGeneres once again became a topic of public intrigue, especially given DeGeneres' own move to the U.K. with her wife, Portia de Rossi, the previous year. When President Donald Trump threatened to revoke O'Donnell's U.S. citizenship and branded her a "threat to humanity" — she had been vocal about her decision to move as a means to escape his administration — DeGeneres spoke up in support. "Good for you," the former "Ellen" host wrote in an Instagram post, sharing both Trump's social media diatribe against O'Donnell and the comedian's defiant response, which had been posted on Instagram in July.
