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This text accommodates references to substance abuse, suicide, home violence, and psychological well being points.

Rosie O’Donnell has hosted an eponymous daytime chat present that picked up a number of Emmy Awards, starred in ’90s classics “A League of Their Personal” and “Sleepless in Seattle,” and loved recurring roles in “The Fosters,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and “Nip/Tuck.” She’s additionally achieved success within the worlds of stand-up comedy, publishing, and philanthropy. However take a fast look at her Wikipedia web page, and you may discover that her life outdoors of the office has been much more eventful.

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The native New Yorker has actually given the press loads of headlines since rising to fame on the expertise present “Star Search” within the mid-Eighties. There have been two failed marriages (and one other near-miss), long-running feuds with political figures, and a really public popping out, to not point out a unbroken tabloid drama involving considered one of her 5 adopted youngsters. This is a have a look at 14 instances that O’Donnell’s private life obtained actually messy.

After a lot tabloid hypothesis, Rosie O’Donnell confirmed in 2002 that, like her fellow comedian-turned-daytime speak present host Ellen DeGeneres, she was certainly a homosexual lady. As an alternative of popping out in a rigorously deliberate journal interview, the star determined to blurt out the information stay on stage at a comedy membership.

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“I am a dyke,” O’Donnell declared to a crowd of not more than 250 folks at Caroline’s on Broadway (through the New York Publish). “I do not know why folks make such a giant deal concerning the homosexual factor … Individuals are confused. They’re shocked, like it is a massive revelation to any person!” “The Flintstones” actor additionally took goal at those that’d denounced her as a traitor to the LGBTQ group for not being open earlier. “‘Oh, however you have been mendacity,’ the homosexual Nazis say. ‘You stated you appreciated Tom Cruise.’ I stated I wished him to mow my garden and produce me a lemonade! I by no means stated I wished [to perform a sex act on him].”

A number of a long time later, O’Donnell advised “Crimson Desk Discuss: The Estefans” that by making her announcement so quickly after the September 11 assaults, the information barely made a blip on the radar. “I am like, ‘I am homosexual,'” she recalled (through ET). “Pay attention, 9/11 occurred, I am homosexual. I am telling you all, I am homosexual. In case the buildings blow up once more, I am so, so homosexual, you recognize?”

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Love, cash, inexperienced playing cards. There are various explanation why {couples} stroll down the aisle collectively. In 2004, Rosie O’Donnell added one other to the listing when she obtained hitched to ex-Nickelodeon advertising exec Kelli Carpenter: politics.

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Sure, the pair determined to say “I do” in San Francisco in a protest in opposition to the help proven by forty first POTUS George W. Bush for the Federal Marriage Modification. “We have been each impressed to come back right here after the sitting President made the vile and hateful feedback he made,” the “One other Stakeout” actor stated simply two weeks after the authorization of same-sex marriage licenses by the town’s mayor Gavin Newsom.

Later, O’Donnell acknowledged that authorized paperwork had additionally been a think about her choice to tie the knot. “We utilized for spousal privilege and have been denied it by the state. Because of this, every little thing that I stated to Kelli, each letter that I wrote her, each e-mail, each correspondence and dialog was entered into the file … I’m now and can eternally be a complete proponent of homosexual marriage.”

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Rosie O’Donnell has at all times been candid about her psychological well being struggles, admitting she suffers from seasonal affective dysfunction, PTSD, and melancholy. And in 2007, she revealed she’d adopted an unorthodox manner of making an attempt to maintain the black canine at bay: hanging the other way up day-after-day for half-hour.

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O’Donnell even gave an indication of the inversion remedy method whereas opening up on “The View,” the daytime speak she later vowed by no means to return to. And she or he additionally defined her battle with melancholy began within the wake of a nationwide tragedy. “I could not cease crying,” she advised the panel (through CBS Information) concerning the Columbine Excessive College bloodbath, which left 13 folks useless. “I stayed in my room. The lights have been off. I could not get off the bed, and that is once I began taking medicine.”

Whereas O’Donnell strongly vouches for each inversion remedy and drugs, she believes the simplest manner of overcoming depressive ideas is to maintain energetic. “Like in “The Wizard of Oz” the colour goes out,” the funnywoman added. “That’s what occurs in melancholy. All the things will get grey.”

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Simply three years after strolling down the aisle collectively in a political assertion, Kelli Carpenter and Rosie O’Donnell sadly went their separate methods. And simply as their nuptials had been based mostly on an unorthodox cause, so had their break up. In a 2010 interview with Oprah.com, the “Exit to Eden” star revealed a sure racket sport was partly responsible.

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O’Donnell recalled how Carpenter was insistent on becoming a member of their native nation membership with their 4 youngsters to play tennis, the kind of institution that the previous speak present host had beforehand given a large berth: “I attempted. They made an exception for a homosexual household, and we joined. It was a giant factor. ‘They let in a homosexual household, whoo!’ So I present as much as play together with her, and any person comes out and says, ‘You possibly can’t play except you’ve gotten tennis whites.'”

O’Donnell additionally spoke about how onerous it had been to confess her and Carpenter’s relationship had come to an finish. “[The divorce was] Humbling. And humiliating,” she stated. “Within the O’Donnell household, nobody had ever been divorced.” In fact, the pair had solely been legally wed for six months. Similar to hundreds of different same-sex {couples}, their marriage certificates was voided in August 2004 by the California Supreme Court docket.

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Rosie O’Donnell skilled a significant well being scare in 2012 when she found she’d suffered a coronary heart assault. In a candid weblog submit, the “Harriet the Spy” star admitted that she was “fortunate to be right here” after turning into ailing at her New York residence. The truth is, if she hadn’t Googled her signs, issues may have been very completely different.

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O’Donnell defined that after days of feeling feverish, nauseous, and achy, she searched on-line for the indicators of a coronary heart assault. The next day, she headed to a heart specialist who discovered an artery that was blocked all however one p.c. The funnywoman, who’d suffered an assault described as a “widow maker,” was subsequently fitted with a stent.

Though O’Donnell did not name for an ambulance on the time that she felt unwell, she implored readers to take action in the event that they skilled related signs: “50% of girls having coronary heart assaults by no means name 911. 200,000 ladies die of coronary heart assaults yearly within the U.S. … Take heed to the voice inside, the one all of us so simply ignore, name 911.”

In 2012, Rosie O’Donnell walked down the aisle for a second time, on this event to Michelle Rounds, an IT staffing recruiter, in New York. Sadly, it did not show to be second time fortunate. Simply three years later, the couple headed for the divorce courts, and so they additionally later turned embroiled in a bitter custody battle over their adopted daughter, Dakota.

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“Proper now she has 24/7 nannies over there at Rosie’s home,” Rounds, who later married and had one other daughter with Krista Monteleone, claimed to ET. “I do not need my youngster to have a nanny. I need her to be outdoors enjoying, I wish to be together with her. I wish to go to all of the dad or mum conferences and that is simply not what it is about over there.” In response, O’Donnell argued that such speak was “an absurd and determined try to make use of a toddler for her personal achieve.”

The state of affairs turned much more tragic in 2017 when Rounds dedicated suicide at her residence in Florida on the age of simply 46: two years earlier, she’d been taken to hospital following an overdose. In a press release given to USA As we speak shortly after the information of her ex-wife’s dying, O’Donnell wrote, “I’m saddened to listen to about this horrible tragedy. Psychological sickness is a really severe subject affecting many households. My ideas and prayers exit to Michelle’s household, her spouse Krista, and their youngster.”

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In August 2015, Rosie O’Donnell took to social media to declare that her teenage daughter Chelsea hadn’t been seen in seven days. In accordance with the “Stunning Ladies” star, the 17-year-old had fled together with her remedy canine from their residence in Nyack, New York, with none data on the place she was going.

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Fortunately, Chelsea was quickly discovered. However the state of affairs solely turned extra sophisticated. The teen was found on the residence of Steven Sheerer, a 25-year-old with an alleged heroin drawback who was then arrested on prices of endangering a toddler’s welfare and distributing obscenities to a minor. The defendant, nonetheless, argued that he’d cast a consensual relationship with Chelsea, who he apparently believed to be 19 on the time.

Cindi Berger, a spokesperson for Rosie, claimed that the ordeal had occurred resulting from a skipping of significant medicine. “Chelsea, like tens of millions of individuals, lives with psychological sickness,” she stated (through Folks). “It has been a troublesome street for Chelsea and her household and so they simply need her again protected. [Rosie and Chelsea] have an excellent relationship. Rosie loves Chelsea very a lot.” Quickly after, although, the teenager efficiently appealed in opposition to a no-contact order between her and Sheerer. She additionally determined to depart the household residence within the Massive Apple and reunite together with her organic mother in Wisconsin. Sadly, this would not be the top of all of the drama.

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Rosie O’Donnell as soon as once more made headlines for her eventful love life in 2017 when she started courting Elizabeth Rooney, a boxer and Military veteran 23 years her junior. And by the top of the next 12 months, the Might-December couple had put an engagement ring on it.

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“I preserve telling her I am too outdated for her,” O’Donnell as soon as admitted to Folks about their generational age hole. “However she would not appear to care. She’s like, ‘I used to be within the Military! I put my life on the road day-after-day you suppose I do not know who I wish to date?’ I am like, ‘All proper I assume that is true.’ She has a number of good factors.”

However earlier than O’Donnell may make Rooney spouse quantity three, the pair break up. In November 2019, Radar On-line famous how all of the posts concerning their engagement had been faraway from the previous chat present queen’s Instagram web page, as had the diamond ring emoji in her bio. It did not take lengthy, nonetheless, for the star to get again on the saddle.

After a number of failed long-term relationships, Rosie O’Donnell determined to take a special strategy to the courting scene in 2022. Impressed with therapeutic massage therapist Aimee Hauer’s TikToks, the “Huge Awake” star slid into her DMs within the hope of hanging up a real-world connection. And though the item of her affections took her time responding — ten days, actually — the tactic in the end labored.

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“Each time I noticed her, I might smile and [be] like, ‘This lady is, like, excellent,'” she gushed on Howard Stern’s SiriusXM present (through Folks) about what initially attracted her to Hauer. “Take a look at her, she’s so blissful and enthusiastic and exquisite and shiny and she or he has a lightweight coming from her.”

Hauer was flattered by the eye and ultimately despatched a video, which led to a bodily assembly, after which issues between the pair obtained much more severe. “I am in love,” O’Donnell continued. “She’s actually form and great, and I just like the tempo we’re going at. It isn’t like a U-Haul state of affairs.” The interview appeared to jinx issues, nonetheless, as only a month later, the couple went their separate methods.

This is a star friendship that nobody may have presumably imagined. In 2025, Rosie O’Donnell revealed to The New York Occasions that she’d developed an in depth platonic relationship with none aside from convicted assassin Lyle Menendez.

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The star had beforehand spoken up in protection of Lyle and his brother Erik, each of whom have been discovered responsible of the 1989 first-degree homicide of their mother and father. Certainly, whereas showing on “Larry King Stay” in 1996, O’Donnell argued that the siblings had merely acted in self-defense. After additional expressing her help on TikTok, Lyle’s spouse, Rebecca Sneed, organized a cellphone assembly between the pair, which lasted a outstanding 4 hours.

“Then he began calling me frequently from the pill cellphone factor they’ve,” O’Donnell defined about how they stored their connection going. “He would inform me about his life, what he is been doing in jail, and, for the primary time in my life, I felt protected sufficient to belief and be susceptible and love a straight man.”

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“So sure that is true,” Rosie O’Donnell started an Instagram submit (through Us Weekly) in November 2024 following the information that her adopted daughter, Chelsea O’Donnell, had been arrested for the third consecutive month. “All of us hope she is ready to get the assistance she wants to show her life round.”

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Chelsea’s run of authorized woes started when she was arrested on a number of prices by Marinette County police, together with home abuse, methamphetamine possession, and youngster neglect after her 11-month-old was found in a grimy, drug-filled residence. Two months later, she was hit with 5 additional felony counts in the identical space, together with bail leaping. In between, she obtained into hassle with Oconto County officers for a number of offenses, together with obstructing/resisting an officer.

The tragedy of Chelsea O’Donnell obtained even sadder when she was later sentenced to 6 years of probation, with circumstances together with no possession or consumption of alcohol and no contact with anybody related to medication.

Nobody may accuse Rosie O’Donnell of failing to place her cash the place her mouth is. Whereas many celebrities vowed to flee America as soon as Donald Trump turned president (or turn into president once more) solely to return on their phrase as soon as their worst nightmare occurred, “The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas” star actually did to migrate following the Republican’s election victory over Kamala Harris.

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Alongside together with her son Clay and their beloved pet canine Kuma, O’Donnell relocated to Eire in 2025 for the sake of each her household’s and her personal sanity. So, what precisely is the true cause that the pair cannot stand one another? Properly, the previous speak present host has been locked in a feud with Trump ever since she known as him out on “The View” again within the mid-00s.

“I discussed his bankruptcies, I discussed the entire sexual assault prices, and I discussed that he was not, actually, the businessman that everybody thinks he’s due to the present, ‘The Apprentice,’ the place they bought a bunch of lies to America for over 10 years, and half of America believed it,” O’Donnell defined to Folks (through Metro). The star, who as soon as apologized to Trump’s spouse Melania for insulting their son Barron, admitted that even twenty years on, she will’t get used to the truth that the POTUS continues to be utilizing her as a punchline.

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Rosie O’Donnell confronted much more drama involving Chelsea O’Donnell, the troubled daughter she’d adopted as an toddler with first spouse Kelli Carpenter, in 2025. Solely this time round, she instigated it. Sure, shortly earlier than relocating to Eire together with her son Clay and their pet canine, the “Now and Then” star reportedly modified her will. And no prizes for guessing which member of the family was notably omitted.

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The truth is, the previous chat present host reduce Chelsea out of two separate trusts, together with the life insurance coverage coverage value a cool $27 million. In fact, the brand new non-beneficiary did not take this mendacity down. In retaliation, she filed a petition to alter her surname from O’Donnell to Neuens, the maiden title of her delivery mom Deanna Micole.

The backwards and forwards continued with a poem that Rosie posted on her weblog titled “My youngster Chelsea.” Traces included “She needs to alter her final title/to her delivery mothers maiden title/would not make sense to me/I’m not her” and “However rain or shine/similar title or not/that is my lady/fierce and decided.” Regardless of the apparent stress between the pair, Rosie claimed that she was nonetheless immensely happy with Chelsea.

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Though she’s denied ever being an alcoholic, Rosie O’Donnell has vowed to surrender the demon drink on a number of events. In 2008, for instance, she revealed on her weblog that she’d gone teetotal, and when requested why by an inquisitive reader, reeled off a listing of solely legitimate causes.

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“Trigger I used to be ingesting an excessive amount of, ‘trigger I did not wish to any extra, ‘trigger it’s onerous to shed pounds when ingesting, ‘trigger I can by no means have just one,” O’Donnell wrote (through Folks). The “Automotive 54, The place Are You?” star admitted that she did not discover abstinence significantly straightforward however that she in the end felt higher.

Nevertheless, her no-alcohol rule wasn’t lifelong. In 2025, O’Donnell revealed that she’d been counting on her favourite tipple slightly too closely within the wake of longtime foe Donald Trump’s second rise to the White Home. However on relocating to Eire the place, due to her grandparents’ heritage, she’s doubtlessly in a position to safe citizenship, she determined to as soon as once more swear off something stronger than a lemonade.

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In the event you or anybody you recognize wants assist with psychological well being, substance abuse, home abuse, or suicide, contact the related sources under: