Rosie O'Donnell Says She Doesn't 'Trust' Ellen After 'Mean' Comment

Rosie O'Donnell is speaking out about where she stands with fellow former daytime talk show Ellen DeGeneres. During a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, she revealed they had recently been in contact years after Ellen made a comment about O'Donnell that "really hurt" her feelings.

“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,” she said. "It’s a big transition. But 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.”

The "mean thing" Rosie is referring to happened during Ellen's appearance on Larry King Live many years ago, which she addressed on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen in September 2022. She recalled the interview in which Ellen said, "I don't know Rosie. We're not friends," after King asked her what happened to The Rosie O'Donnell Show, which aired from 1996 to 2002.

O'Donnell then revealed she got an apology from Ellen. “She wrote, ‘I’m really sorry, and I don’t remember that.’ I guess she saw me talk about it on Andy Cohen’s show,” she told THR. “I remembered it so well, I had T-shirts printed and I gave them to my staff that said ‘I don’t know Rosie. We’re not friends.”

She continued, "I have a picture of her holding [my then-infant son] Parker. I know her mother. I could identify her brother without her in the room. I knew her for so many years. It just felt like I don’t trust this person to be in my world.”