'Bit of a weird thing': Rosie O'Donnell reveals Ellen DeGeneres's 'hurtful' comment that she still 'can't get over'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Former talk show host Rosie O’Donnell is reportedly unable to forget a comment made by Ellen DeGeneres decades ago. The comedian recently revealed to Andy Cohen on ‘Watch What Happens Live’ that Ellen's remark hurt her. She said, "We had a little bit of a weird thing."
According to Page Six, she said, “After my show went off air and hers was coming on the air, Larry King was on with Ellen and he said, ‘Whatever happened to Rosie O’Donnell? Her show went down the tubes. She came out as a lesbian and disappeared!’"
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“And Ellen said, and I’m quoting, ‘I don’t know Rosie. We’re not friends,'" O’Donnell, 60, said, adding, “I was in bed with Kelli [Carpenter], and I said, ‘Did I just hear that or was that a hallucination, auditory voice in my [head]?' It hurt my feelings, like a baby, and I never really got over it.”
Interestingly, Ellen had appeared on ‘The Rosie O’Donnell Show’ in 1996. However, O'Donnell never returned the favor even after being invited "at the end" of the show’s short span. O’ Donnell said that she wanted to bring along someone with her so it would be "a little less awkward" but Ellen’s team "didn’t want to do that," so she simply refused the invite.
Despite that, she holds no hard feelings for Ellen. She said, "I wish her all good things in her life and that she should be well, so there you go.” The two women were also among the few who publicly revealed their sexuality as lesbians, and paved the way for LGBTQIA+ rights in those days. What is more interesting is that O'Donnell came out as a lesbian when DeGeneres was on the show as a guest in 1996. O'Donnell's show ran for six seasons from 1996 to 2002. 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show ' started in 2003 and ran for 19 seasons and ended in May 2022.
In July 2020, Ellen's employees leveled some pretty serious allegations against the talk show host claiming that they suffered from "racism, fear, and intimidation" on her set. Ellen's persona as the friendly talk show host took a heavy beating as plenty of former guests and ex-employees revealed some horrid experiences they had of interacting with her. These revelations certainly put a huge dent on her reputation.
Back in August 2020, O'Donnell, in fact, admitted she felt sympathy for the standup comic. While speaking to Busy Philipps on her podcast, O'Donnell had said: "That’s why I have compassion for Ellen, right? "I have compassion, even though, you know, I hear the stories. And I understand." She concluded: "I think she has some social awkwardness.”