Rosie O’Donnell Recalls Ellen DeGeneres Turning Her Back on Friendship: Never ‘Gotten Over It’

Rosie O’Donnell and Ellen DeGeneres haven’t been able to mend their broken friendship.

O’Donnell, 63, appeared on the Sunday, September 7, episode of the No Filter podcast hosted by Kate Langbroek and recalled how, when DeGeneres, 67, appeared on Larry King Live in 2004, she made a bold statement that ended their long-standing friendship.

“Ellen said, ‘I don’t know Rosie. We’re not friends,'” O’Donnell recalled. “That was, like, one of the most painful things that ever happened to me, in show business, in my life. I couldn’t believe it.”

Langbroek asked why DeGeneres would say that, and O’Donnell responded that she didn’t know.

“I have photos of her holding my newborn babies. I knew her for 30 years,” O’Donnell revealed. “It was so upsetting to me that I had t-shirts made [that said] ‘I don’t know Rosie, we’re not friends.’ And I gave them out to my staff because it was very painful.”

The Now and Then actress said she and DeGeneres have “never sort of gotten over it,” noting during the podcast that the comedian never apologized to her and has even asked why she’s “still talking about this.” (However, in 2023, O’Donnell told The Hollywood Reporter that DeGeneres had apologized to her via text.)

“I think in her mind, she thinks I keep rehashing it for pleasure. I don’t rehash it for pleasure,” O’Donnell reflected. “I rehash it because our careers have taken sort of parallel, interwoven paths.”

O’Donnell also added that the disintegration of their friendship was “profound” for her and said they were not “emotionally similar” people.

Both women have been incredibly successful day talk show hosts, with O’Donnell hosting The Rosie O’Donnell Show from 1996 to 2002 and DeGeneres hosting The Ellen DeGeneres Show from 2003 to 2022.