Rosie O'Donnell's Most Tragic Life Details Explained

This article contains mentions of sexual abuse and suicide.

Rosie O'Donnell is an accomplished actor, comedian, and TV host who has starred in films like "A League of Their Own," and helmed her own talk show from 1996 until 2002. She is an outspoken advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community and has never held back from sharing her own experiences as a gay woman in Hollywood. While O'Donnell's success is undeniable, her life behind the scenes has been nothing short of tragic.

O'Donnell first experienced a devastating loss when she was just a child, and endured unthinkable abuse at the hand of someone she was supposed to be able to trust. O'Donnell also experienced major mental and physical health crises, and feuded with several of her co-stars and her peers over the years, but her signature sense of humor seems to have helped her make it through even the darkest of times.

Rosie O'Donnell has been no stranger to tragedy even throughout her childhood. O'Donnell experienced a devastating loss at just 10 years old when her mother died of breast cancer. Her mom, Roseann Teresa Murtha O'Donnell, was only 39 when she succumbed to the illness on St. Patrick's Day in 1973. "I remember ... looking in the mirror and saying, 'Nothing bad can happen today because it's good luck for the Irish,'" O'Donnell shared with People. "And then the worst thing happened that day."

O'Donnell also recalled being confused as to what exactly had happened, having been sent home from a friend's house to find her street lined with cars. Her father and several of his family members were visibly upset and delivered the news to O'Donnell, but she didn't quite understand. "They said, 'Your mother passed away.' And I remember thinking, 'What does that mean, 'passed away'?'" When the reality hit her that her mother was gone "it was pretty much earth-shattering," the comedian described.

O'Donnell was so affected by her mother's death that she acted out, running away from her elementary school and hiding in the surrounding woods. Her behavior caught the attention of a teacher, Pat Maravel, whom O'Donnell credited with helping her through the extremely difficult time. "I was a kid in desperate need and she took me under her wing ... This woman loved me back to life," O'Donnell told Extra.

After the death of Rosie O'Donnell's mother, she and her four siblings were left in the care of their father, who O'Donnell has said was a troubled man. "He had his own issues and demons, he had a very tough childhood — an alcoholic, abusive father," she told Piers Morgan in 2012 (via CNN). She also expressed that suddenly having to care for five children seemingly added to her father's stress. But it turned out there were even darker things lurking in the family's household, as O'Donnell later revealed that her father had been sexually abusing her even before her mother passed away.

O'Donnell shared her story in the 2019 book "Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of 'The View'" written by Ramin Setoodeh. "It started very young," O'Donnell explained to Setoodeh. "And then when my mother died, it sort of ended in a weird way, because then he was with these five children to take care of." She went on to express that she didn't like talking about it, but the abuse clearly affected her in a serious way. "Any child who is put in that position, especially by someone in the family, you feel completely powerless and stuck, because the person you would tell is the person doing it," O'Donnell said.

In 2001, O'Donnell opened up about her experience with depression, revealing in her magazine "Rosie" that she'd struggled with the disorder for most of her life. "It is scary to read it back to myself ... to let it go out there into the world, this dark piece of me," O'Donnell shared (via ABC News).

The talk show host explained that she'd been hesitant to treat her depression with medication, but after 10 years of seeking help from different therapists, she finally decided to give it a try. In 2007, during a taping of "The View," O'Donnell went into further detail about her decision to treat her mental health issues with medication, explaining that the 1999 Columbine shooting drove her into an even deeper depression. "I couldn't stop crying," she said (via CBS News). "I stayed in my room. The lights were off. I couldn't get out of bed, and that's when I started taking medication." O'Donnell also spoke about other methods she used ward off depression, including yoga and inversion therapy, a practice where she hung upside down for up to 30 minutes a day.

In 2000, Rosie O'Donnell sustained a painful injury when she accidentally cut a tendon in her hand while using a knife to remove a price tag from a fishing pole. Unfortunately, the injury was serious enough to require three surgeries, and O'Donnell contracted a dangerous staph infection during her third surgery. The infection got to a point where doctors considered amputation when it wasn't responding to treatment.

O'Donnell recounted her terrifying experience when she returned to "The View" after taking time off to heal, revealing that she thought she was going to die from the infection. "I thought, you know, if you're very famous and they can't stop your pain, you're in trouble," O'Donnell said (via New York Post). "In my mind I was a little bit, you know, creating my own [funeral] service," she admitted.

Thankfully, O'Donnell made a full recovery, but even after returning to her hosting duties she still needed to complete six weeks' worth of antibiotics via an IV pump until she was out of the woods.

In 2006, Rosie O'Donnell and Donald Trump got into a public back and forth after O'Donnell criticized him for sticking up for that year's Miss USA Winner who was accused of underage drinking and substance use. Trump owned the competition at the time and expressed that Miss USA, Tara Conner, would be given a second chance. O'Donnell called Trump out during a Hot Topics segment of "The View," expressing that he annoyed her and saying, "This is not a self-made man." Trump took issue with O'Donnell's remarks and threatened to sue her, telling People, "It'll be fun. Rosie's a loser. A real loser."

The feud continued, as Trump would not let up on O'Donnell. In 2011 when she announced her engagement to Michelle Rounds, Trump posted on X, "I feel sorry for Rosie 's new partner in love whose parents are devastated at the thought of their daughter being with @Rosie–a true loser." It seemed he just could not let his dislike for O'Donnell go, and again in 2014, he took to X to criticize her remarks regarding her own weight loss struggles.

The experience took a toll on O'Donnell, and revealed to People, "Probably the Trump stuff was the most bullying I ever experienced in my life, including as a child. ... It was national, and it was sanctioned societally."

Rosie O'Donnell lent her perspective and her big personality to "The View" as a co-host from 2006 until 2007 and again in 2014. While O'Donnell seemed like a great fit for the show with her strong opinions and comedic background, her time as a co-host was marred by tensions with several of her co-stars.

O'Donnell famously feuded with "The View" co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck, culminating in an on-air argument in 2007 that lasted more than five minutes straight and was featured in a split-screen format. O'Donnell had confronted Hasselbeck, an outspoken conservative, about misconstruing her criticism of the U.S. military in its fight against Iraq. "You said nothing, and that's cowardly," O'Donnell told Hasselbeck during the heated exchange, after Hasselbeck said, "I just don't understand why it's my fault if people spin words that you put out there or phrases that suggest things." O'Donnell, who was a month away from her departure from the show, asked ABC to let her out of her contract early following the fight.

But Hasselbeck wasn't the only one O'Donnell butted heads with while on "The View." Earlier in 2007, O'Donnell was shocked to find out that "The View" star Barbara Walters had called Donald Trump to apologize for O'Donnell's behavior. O'Donnell confronted Walters in the makeup room right before a show. "I thought we had something real and something different than the way you've been treating me," O'Donnell told The Hollywood Reporter of what she said to Walters. "It got loud, and people were in shock because nobody talked to her like that," O'Donnell revealed.

In 2012, Rosie O'Donnell, who was 50 years old at the time, experienced symptoms she didn't associate with a cardiac event, such as sore arms and fatigue. She even Googled signs of a heart attack in women, noting that she had a few, but went about her business for the night.

It wasn't until two days later that O'Donnell went to the doctor at the urging of her family, and it turned out she was suffering a massive heart attack. The type of heart attack O'Donnell experienced is known as a "widowmaker" which involved complete blockage of her left descending artery. "I was like, 'Wait, wait, what?!' ... I couldn't believe [it]," she explained on an episode of "The Best Podcast Ever with Raven and Miranda" in 2023. "And then I came to find out that the symptoms for a woman having a heart attack are very different than the symptoms for men having heart attacks."

O'Donnell considered herself lucky to have survived the ordeal, which included a life-saving surgery to have a stent placed in her heart. She did not take her brush with death lightly and used her celebrity platform to educate others, performing a comedy special for HBO in 2015 called "A Heartfelt Stand Up" during which she shared her experience with the aim of teaching women about the signs of a heart attack.

Rosie O'Donnell is the mother of five children. In 1997 she and her then-wife Kelli Carpenter adopted their second child together, Chelsea Belle O'Donnell, shortly after her birth. Rosie O'Donnell's daughter, Chelsea, has gone through her fair share of difficult times, and she and her mother have not always gotten along. In 2015, O'Donnell was frantic when 17-year-old Chelsea went missing from their Nyack, New York home, calling on the public's help to find her. Chelsea, who at the time was dealing with mental health issues, was found safe, but soon after she made the choice to live with her birth mother in Wisconsin.

O'Donnell and Chelsea were estranged until Chelsea gave birth to her first child in 2018. "She's doing better now and we're both communicating with each other," O'Donnell revealed on "The Talk" (via People). Chelsea went on to give birth to three more children, but motherhood did not set her on a better path. In September 2024, she was arrested and charged with drug possession and felony child neglect, and just two months later she was charged with several more felony offenses including possession of methamphetamine and bail jumping. O'Donnell took to Instagram to share the news of her daughter's latest arrest, perhaps in an attempt to get ahead of the rumors, writing in her caption, "We all hope she is able to get the help she needs to turn her life around." O'Donnell reportedly removed her daughter from her $80 million will, and Chelsea petitioned to have her last named changed from O'Donnell to her birth mother's maiden name, Neuens.

In September 2017, Rosie O'Donnell was dealt yet another heartbreaking blow when her ex-wife Michelle Rounds was found dead of an apparent suicide. O'Donnell and Rounds were married in 2012 and parted ways in 2014. Their divorced was finalized in March 2016 following a custody battle over their child, Clay. "I am saddened to hear about this terrible tragedy," O'Donnell shared in a statement to People. "Mental illness is a very serious issue affecting many families."

O'Donnell spoke about her ex-wife in an interview with Extra during the premiere of her Showtime series "SMILF," her first time appearing in public since Rounds' passing. O'Donnell referred to Rounds' death as "Very sad, very tragic," and revealed that Rounds had previously attempted to take her own life a few years prior. "There was a time in September 2015," O'Donnell said. "You think love has the answer. But mental illness has no say."

Rosie O'Donnell and Ellen DeGeneres were once good friends, as they were both female comedians who rose to fame around the same time and both came out as gay during a period when doing so was still considered very controversial. O'Donnell invited DeGeneres on her talk show in 1996, introducing her as "my buddy." The two were clearly friendly and shared a joke about being "Lebanese," a wink to the fact that DeGeneres was about to come out as a lesbian on her sitcom, "Ellen."

But O'Donnell and DeGeneres did not remain close, which according to O'Donnell was due in part to the media attention surrounding DeGeneres coming out. "It became a strange, 'There can't be two lesbians in this town,' kind of a thing," O'Donnell shared with The Hollywood Reporter. "Then we each had success and went separate ways."

What seemed to be a story of two friends having grown apart became something more hurtful. O'Donnell revealed on "Watch What Happens Live" in 2022 that DeGeneres told Larry King the two didn't even know each other. "Ellen said, and I'm quoting, 'I don't know Rosie. We're not friends,'" O'Donnell shared with the stunned studio audience and host Andy Cohen. She added, "It hurt my feelings like a baby, and I never really got over it." O'Donnell told The Hollywood Reporter that DeGeneres later texted her an apology saying she didn't remember having said it, but the damage had already been done. "I have a picture of her holding [my then-infant son] Parker. I know her mother ... I knew her for so many years. It just felt like I don't trust this person to be in my world," O'Donnell said.

Clay O'Donnell is Rosie O'Donnell's youngest child whom she adopted with her late ex-wife Michelle Rounds in 2013. Clay, who is non-binary, was diagnosed with autism when they were 2 years old, and O'Donnell has been nothing but supportive telling People, "I have told [them] from the start that autism is [their] superpower."

But O'Donnell revealed in 2025 that she and Clay went through some rough times, living in isolation as Clay refused to leave the house. "They would come home from school and not want a play date. It was me and Clay. And it got very isolating and very lonely, O'Donnell told People." Things took an even more upsetting turn when O'Donnell noticed something strange in Clay's artwork. "Clay's drawings were getting darker and some of their thoughts were scaring me," she explained. "Some of their pictures had bloody knives and talk of violence."

Thankfully, O'Donnell sought help from Guide Dogs of America, a program that pairs service dogs with families of autistic children, and soon brought home a black lab named Kuma. Kuma's presence in the home was life-changing for the comedian and Clay, who was suddenly excited to do things like go to the grocery store as long as Kuma was along for the ride. "This was a new life for us," O'Donnell shared. Not only was Clay able to leave the house, they were able to leave the country, as O'Donnell and Clay relocated to Ireland after Trump became president again in 2025.

In February 2025, the world was shocked to learn that actor Michelle Trachtenberg had passed away at the age of 39. Trachtenberg, who charmed audiences while appearing in series such as "The Adventures of Pete & Pete," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," and "Gossip Girl," made her big screen debut at age 10 starring alongside Rosie O'Donnell in the 1996 film "Harriet the Spy."

O'Donnell was among many who were devastated by the loss of the young actor, whose death was a result of complications from diabetes mellitus. Although it had been decades since the two appeared together onscreen, it seemed as though they had been in touch in the time leading up to Trachtenberg's passing. "She struggled the last few years," O'Donnell shared with People.

Trachtenberg appeared on "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" in 1996 to promote "Harriet the Spy" and it was clear she and O'Donnell had a very sweet relationship. "Even before that I knew you were going to be Golly in this movie, you were one of my favorite actresses," Trachtenberg told O'Donnell, and the talk show host returned the compliment. O'Donnell's fondness for Trachtenberg lasted through the years, and she told People, "I loved her very much ... I wish I could have helped."

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