Rosie O'Donnell Opens up About 'Weirdness' in Her Relationship With Ellen DeGeneres

Rosie O'Donnell isn't holding back when it comes to the "weirdness" that became a part of her relationship with Ellen DeGeneres throughout the comedians' careers. O'Donnell spoke candidly with The Hollywood Reporter for a new interview, in which she looked back on the highs and lows of her friendship with The Ellen DeGeneres Show host.

When both O'Donnell and DeGeneres were rising comics, the two were good friends. "We supported each other. Which is why when she came on my show, I said, 'Let me not have you standing there by yourself. Let's get a joke in there,'" O'Donnell remembered. "And we sat down and came up with that, 'Oh my God, I love Casey Kasem. Maybe I'm Lebanese.' It became a big thing."

As each of the two performers became more and more famous, things changed. "The episode aired, Time ran its Yep, I'm Gay cover and everybody was asking me, 'What do you think about Ellen?' It became a strange, 'There can't be two lesbians in this town,' kind of a thing," she said. "Then we each had success and went separate ways."

Since then, O'Donnell said she and DeGeneres had largely lost touch, until she received a text just a few weeks ago from the Finding Dory star. "I asked her how she's surviving not being on TV. It's a big transition," O'Donnell shared. "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."

O'Donnell was referencing when DeGeneres previously told Larry King that she and O'Donnell were "not friends" in a moment that shocked the A League of Their Own star. "I was watching TV in bed with my wife going, 'Did she just say that?'" she recalled. "It would never occur to me to say 'I don't know her' about somebody whose babies I held when they were born. It wouldn't be in my lexicon of choices to ever say. When she was in a perplexing situation and people were saying things about her, I said, 'Let me stand next to you and say that I'm Lebanese, too.' When it was a downward media time for me, she didn't do anything."

In her text, O'Donnell claims DeGeneres apologized for making that comment, which she said she didn't remember. "I guess she saw me talk about it on Andy Cohen's show," she shrugged. "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.' 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."

O'Donnell also claimed DeGeneres shut down her request to appear on The Ellen DeGeneres Show as a guest, despite their respective shows using many of the same staff members. "I asked to go on because of something I was promoting, and she said no," she claimed. "And I remember going, 'Seriously?' After she said no that one time, whenever they would ask [me to appear] on the show, I would say no."