At a glance, Rosie O’Donnell and Ellen DeGeneres have a lot in common. They’re both lesbians. They were both talk show hosts with long-running talk shows. They’re both comedians. They both used their talk show platform as a way to advocate for the LGBTQ+ community.
Even though they may have certain things in common, they are not friends. At least, that’s what Ellen said on her show one time about Rosie, and the two have never been close since
Rosie’s talk show, “The Rosie O’Donnell Show,” aired from 1996 to 2002. During that time, Ellen was a guest on Rosie’s show, and during her segment, Ellen addressed her sexuality and her decision to publicly come out as a lesbian.
Ellen’s show ran much longer than Rosie’s. It aired from 2003 to 2022, an impressive 19 season run. In that time, it would seem likely like Rosie would have been a guest on the show at some point, but she wasn’t. Shockingly, Rosie never appeared on Ellen’s show.
During an interview with Andy Cohen on “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen,” Andy asked Rosie if it was really true that she was never on Ellen’s show, and she confirmed that fact which led Andy to try to find out why. He asked a follow-up question, “Did they not ask?”
Rosie responded, “No,” but later during the show, she explained that once in the final season of the show they did actually ask her to be on the show. She wanted to bring someone on the show with her, but the show wasn’t okay with that, so she never appeared on the show.
The main reason Rosie turned down the opportunity to go on Ellen’s show during the final season was due to something Ellen said on a much earlier episode of her show. Rosie explained that she was watching Ellen’s show one day when Ellen said something that shocked her and hurt her feelings. She said, “Larry King was on with Ellen and he said ‘What ever happened to Rosie O’Donnell? Her show went down the tubes! She came out as a lesbian and disappeared!'”
Ellen’s response to Larry’s question was something Rosie never forgot. Ellen said, “I don’t know Rosie. We’re not friends.”
Watch the interview below to hear Rosie explain why she was never on Ellen’s show and how hurt she was at Ellen’s comments.
Does it surprise you that Rosie was never on Ellen’s show?
