Rosie O’Donnell still thinks about her “painful” fallout with her once-closed friend Ellen DeGeneres.
On Monday’s episode of the “Unfiltered with Kaytlan Groke” podcast, O’Donnell recalls DeGeneres’ 2004 unaware of the talk show host who turned fellow comedian to Larry King, and the rejection she felt they were not friends.
O’Donnell, 63, remembered standing by DeGeneres when the latter appeared as a gay at the “Rosie O’Donnell Show” held between 1996 and 2002.
“I didn’t leave her alone. I couldn’t do that,” O’Donnell told Langbroke, adding that she “had to stand by her and hold her hand.”
However, according to actress DeGeneres, 67, “Never… I’ll be grateful for that moment.” She pointed out the look of the “Larry King Live” in question.
“And he asked her, ‘What happened to Rosie O’Donnell? Her show went down the tube,” recalled O’Donnell.
“And Ellen said, ‘I don’t know Rosie. We’re not friends.’ And it was one of the most painful things that happened to me in show business and my life. ”
When Langbroek asked why Degeneres said, the “Their own league” star said, “I don’t know. I knew her for 30 years because she holds my newborn baby… It was so painful that we’d never overcome it.”
O’Donnell claimed that DeGeneres had not reached out to apologize or explain himself. Additionally, the “Finding Nemo” star never asked O’Donnell to appear in the “Ellen Degeneres Show,” which ran from 2003 to 2022 until 2009.
“And instead of standing next to me and deciding to hold my hand, that’s what I did to her, she did the opposite, and I couldn’t believe it,” O’Donnell said.
O’Donnell said of the end of DeGeneres’ talk show, following allegations that she abused staff, “I felt very betrayed because I knew the way she treated me had to be the way she treated other people.”
The “Harriet the Spy” star claimed she “don’t want her malicious” but admitted that she “never can pass.”
“And often, she wrote me and said, ‘Why are you still talking about this (and then) about this?”,” she insisted.
In 2022, a few months after “The Ellen Degeneres Show” ended, O’Donnell appeared on “What What Happes Live” and told Andy Cohen the same thing.
“I didn’t really know how to answer that. I said, ‘Well, it was a profound moment for me.’ …I would have apologized. That’s what I would have done,” O’Donnell told Langbroke.
“But in her mind, I think she will continue to rehash it for joy. I don’t rehash it for joy. Our careers have been following parallel interwoven paths, so I will rehash it.
Following her appearance in “wwhl,” O’Donnell told Hollywood reporters that DeGeneres texted her that “I’m really sorry, I don’t remember.”
