Rosie O’Donnell Reveals Why She Never Appeared On ‘Ellen’

Rosie O’Donnell explained the hurt feelings that led her to never appear on Ellen Degeneres’ eponymous daytime talk show for its entire run on a recent Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen interview.

O’Donnell was responding to a fan question who noted that Ellen had appeared on her show, but the reverse never occurred.

The retelling of this story included a funny impression of the late Larry King, because DeGeneres’ comments that rubbed her the wrong way took place on that show.

“Whatever happened to Rosie O’Donnell, her show went down the tubes! She came out as a lesbian and disappeared!” O’Donnell said as King.

“And Ellen said, and I’m quoting, ‘I don’t know Rosie, we’re not friends,'” O’ Donnell said. “And I was in bed with Kelly, and I just went, ‘Did I just hear that?'” She said she, “Never really got over it,” and declined one invitation they made for her to come on the show to promote the series SMILF.

“I wish her all good things in her life, and that she should be well,” she added at the end of the interview.

Ellen’s appearance on The Rosie O’Donnell show was memorable because of the bit she said about calling herself “Lebanese” as a code for being lesbian. O’Donnell’s show wrapped in 2002, and Ellen’s daytime show began soon after in 2003 and lasted for a long run until it wrapped in 2022.

O’Donnell is currently a main cast member of the television series American Gigolo on Showtime, which premiered September 11 and also stars John Bernthal.