Rosie O’Donnell reveals the one comment Ellen DeGeneres said that made her avoid her talk show
Ellen DeGeneres' star power has dimmed ever since allegations of her mistreatment toward the crew of 'The Ellen Show' started making the rounds. What followed was a flood of other controversies, including past instances of misconduct with guests on her talk show. Adding to the conversation, fellow comedian Rosie O'Donnell once discussed the strain between her and DeGeneres, revealing a comment that still hurts her.
O'Donnell and DeGeneres have known each other since the 1990s when they were both emerging comedians. However, O'Donnell revealed that "a weird thing" kept her from ever appearing on DeGeneres' former talk show, as per Page Six. During a September 2022 appearance on 'Watch What Happens Live', she opened up to host Andy Cohen about what went wrong between them. "We had a little bit of a weird thing,” O’Donnell shared.
She recalled a moment from 'Larry King Live' when King asked DeGeneres, "Whatever happened to Rosie O'Donnell? Her show went down the tubes. She came out as a lesbian and disappeared!" O'Donnell was stunned by DeGeneres' response: "I don’t know Rosie. We’re not friends." The remark deeply hurt her. She remembered turning to her partner, Kelli Carpenter, in disbelief, saying, “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]?’” Admitting how much it affected her, she added, "It hurt my feelings, like a baby, and I never really got over it."
Opening up about the fallout of their friendship, O'Donnell told The Hollywood Reporter that she and DeGeneres once had "a good relationship" and were "friends." She reminisced about attending parties with DeGeneres, Melissa Etheridge, and Kathryn Dawn Lang (k.d. lang), and even hosting DeGeneres on her show. O'Donnell explained that she and DeGeneres had each other's back, saying, "It was a good relationship. We were friends. We supported each other. Which is why when she came on my show, I said, “Let me not have you standing there by yourself. Let’s get a joke in there.” And we sat down and came up with, “Oh my God, I love Casey Kasem. Maybe I’m Lebanese.” It became a big thing.
O'Donnell explained that over time, their relationship changed. She said, "It became a strange, 'There can’t be two lesbians in this town,' kind of a thing. Then we each had success and went our separate ways." O'Donnell revealed that she and DeGeneres had been out of touch for years until she sent a text in 2022. "She texted me a few weeks ago checking in, seeing how I’m doing, and I asked her how she’s surviving not being on TV,” O'Donnell said. She reflected on their past, admitting, "We’ve had our weirdness in our relationship. I don’t know if it’s jealousy, competition, or the fact that she said a mean thing about me once that really hurt my feelings."