Rosie O'Donnell Reflects on 'Painful' Experience of Ellen DeGeneres Fallout

Rosie O’Donnell is opening up about the end of her friendship with fellow talk show host, Ellen DeGeneres.

“Instead of deciding to stand next to me and hold my hand, which is what I did to her, she did the opposite,” O’Donnell said during the Sunday, September 7, episode of Mamamia’s “No Filter” podcast. “That was, like, one of the most painful things that ever happened to me, in show business, in my life.”

O’Donnell and DeGeneres’ falling out reportedly occurred after the Finding Nemo star made a comment about her dynamic with O’Donnell during a 2004 appearance on Larry King Live.

“I don’t really know Rosie that well. I mean, I’ve spoken to her, but we’re not really friends,” she told the host at the time.

O’Donnell explained on Sunday that she “couldn’t believe” how DeGeneres publicly downplayed their friendship.

“I have photos of her holding my newborn babies,” she shared. “I knew her for 30 years.”

Since that remark, O’Donnell and DeGeneres have had a fractured bond, which the League of Their Own actress has candidly discussed over the years.

“I think in her mind, she thinks I keep rehashing it for pleasure,” O’Donnell quipped. “I don’t rehash it for pleasure. I rehash it because our careers have taken sort of parallel, interwoven paths.”

O’Donnell previously discussed her falling out with DeGeneres during a 2022 appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. DeGeneres heard about O’Donnell’s interview and, according to the comedian, reached out to apologize.

“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. It’s a big transition,” O’Donnell said to the Hollywood Reporter at the time.

Years later, both O’Donnell and DeGeneres have moved out of the United States following the 2024 presidential election, choosing to relocate to Europe. O’Donnell lives in Ireland, while DeGeneres and her wife, Portia de Rossi, reside in the English countryside.

Earlier this year, O’Donnell exclusively opened up to Us Weekly about her new life in the Emerald Isle and if she had been in touch with DeGeneres recently.

“We’re not really in each other’s worlds,” she told Us in April. “And it’s been kind of awkward but you know what? I wish her the best. I wish that she has peace and love in her life and that she is OK.”

The former talk show host added that she has no “malice” towards DeGeneres.

“I don’t want to fight against another gay woman. It’s not like we’re tenaciously opposed to each other,” she explained. “We’re just very different people. We have had some stuff in the past that we never resolved. And not in any way as, as partners or lovers or anything like that, just as friends and comedians, but I wish her the best. I seriously do.”