Rosie O’Donnell and Ellen DeGeneres were never friends and O’Donnell is finally opening up about their subtle rivalry.
The 60-year-old dropped by Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen this week and was asked why she and DeGeneres, 64, have such a frosty relationship.
Despite having a lot in common – both had successful daytime talk shows, both female comics, both out lesbians – the stars never got on.
Her side of the story: Rosie O’Donnell and Ellen DeGeneres were never friends and O’Donnell is finally opening up about their subtle rivalry on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
O’Donnell was more or less persona non grata on The Ellen DeGeneres Show during its long tenure but was finally asked to appear as a guest in season 19.
‘We had a little bit of a weird thing, and after my show went off the air and hers was coming on the air,’ Rosie explained to Andy.
‘Larry King was on with Ellen and he said ‘What ever happened to Rosie O’Donnell? Her show went down the tubes! She came out as a lesbian and disappeared!”
‘And Ellen said, and I’m quoting, “I don’t know Rosie. We’re not friends.”‘
‘We had a little bit of a weird thing, and after my show went off the air and hers was coming on the air,’ Rosie explained to Andy.
At the time, Rosie was watching the interview at home with her ex-wife Kelli Carpenter.
‘I was in bed with Kelli and I said “Did I just hear that? Or was that a hallucination, auditory voice in my —” she recollected. ‘And that’s what happened. And it hurt my feelings like a baby. And I never really got over it.’
Nearly more than a decade later, Rosie was finally asked to come on Ellen’s show as a guest, she revealed, but to make it ‘a little less awkward’ there was talk of bringing on someone with her.
Ultimately that idea didn’t fly but O‘Donnell seem s not to harbor ill will towards Ellen.
‘Larry King was on with Ellen and he said ‘What ever happened to Rosie O’Donnell? Her show went down the tubes! She came out as a lesbian and disappeared! And Ellen said, and I’m quoting, “I don’t know Rosie. We’re not friends.”‘
‘I was in bed with Kelli and I said “Did I just hear that? Or was that a hallucination, auditory voice in my —” she recollected. ‘And that’s what happened. And it hurt my feelings like a baby. And I never really got over it.’
‘I wish her all good things in her life and that she should be well,’ she said.
The Rosie O’Donnell Show, a once very popular daytime chat series, aired from 1996 to 2002. Ellen’s talk show seemingly replaced Rosie in 2003 and went on for 19 seasons until ending in a scandal.
DeGeneres caught flack for her behavior on and off set, leading to a massive toxic workplace scandal that spurred a company investigation and decline in ratings.
Ellen received bad publicity after employees of her show complained about poor treatment from the show’s execs as the coronavirus forced her to film the show from home
‘I wish her all good things in her life and that she should be well,’ she said.
A pileup of professional problems for DeGeneres – who encouraged people to ‘Be kind’ on her show – sprouted in March of 2020, after comedian Kevin T. Porter went viral after asking his followers to post ‘insane’ tales of ‘Ellen being mean’ in a charitable effort for Los Angeles Food Bank.
The tweet inspired hundreds of responses, snowballing into more bad publicity for the star as employees of her show complained about poor treatment from the show’s execs as the coronavirus forced DeGeneres to film her show from home.
In July of 2020, Buzzfeed published a pair of reports speaking with current and former employees for the show who said that the program was plagued by a toxic work environment rife with bullying, sexual misconduct and racist remarks.
Warner Bros.’s parent company WarnerMedia subsequently launched an internal probe of the show, saying that findings indicated ‘some flaws in the show’s daily management’ and ‘deficiencies related to the show’s day-to-day management.’
In August of 2020, Warner Bros. announced that executive producers Ed Glavin and Kevin Leman and co-executive producer Jonathan Norman had ‘parted ways’ with the show prior to its 18th season.
When DeGeneres returned to the air in September of 2020, she apologized over the scandal over things ‘that never should have happened.’
DeGeneres announced she was ending her show in May of 2021, telling fans that she intuitively felt it was time to wrap things up in its 19th season.
Talk show legends: The Rosie O’Donnell Show, a once very popular daytime chat series, aired from 1996 to 2002. Ellen’s talk show seemingly replaced Rosie in 2003 and went on for 19 seasons until ending in a scandal