Rosie O’Donnell Calls Ending Her Friendship With a Fellow Comedian One of the ‘Most Painful Things’ to Ever Happen to Her

More than two decades after she and Ellen DeGeneres ended their friendship, Rosie O’Donnell opens up about the situation.

While appearing on the No Filter podcast on Sept. 7, O’Donnell revealed the friendship came to an end after DeGeneres announced they were not friends during a 2004 interview on Larry King Live.

During the Larry King Live interview, DeGeneres claimed to be in the same position as O’Donnell when it came to revealing her sexuality. DeGeneres came out as gay in 1997.

“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 explained. “This was, like, one of the most painful things that ever happened to me, in show business, in my life.”

O’Donnell recalled her initial reaction to DeGeneres’ comments. “I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “I have photos of her holding my newborn babies. I knew her for 30 years.”

The comedian noted she would have apologized to DeGeneres, but noted, “I think in her mind, she thinks I keep rehashing it for pleasure. I don’t rehash it for pleasure. I rehash it because our careers have taken sort of parallel, interwoven paths.”

O’Donnell previously spoke about the fallout between her and DeGeneres in 2022 while on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. The comedian confirmed the following year that DeGeneres had reached out to apologize.

“She texted me a few weeks ago checking in, seeing how I’m doing,” O’Donnell said. “And I asked her how she’s surviving not being on TV. It’s a big transition.”

O’Donnell further pointed out, “I guess she saw me talk about it on Andy Cohen’s show. She wrote, ‘I’m really sorry, and I don’t remember that.’”

However, O’Donnell said that DeGeneres was well aware of her comments, noting that the former talk show host had t-shirts printed for her staff that read “I don’t know Rosie. We’re not friends.”