In a recent podcast appearance, Rosie O’Donnell opened up about her decades-long falling out with Ellen DeGeneres. She revealed how DeGeneres’s denial of their friendship on Larry King Live over 20 years ago left her feeling completely betrayed.
O’Donnell, a comedian and former talk show host, spoke on the Mamamia podcast No Filter, and explained that the incident was one of the most painful things she’s ever experienced in show business. The whole thing stemmed from a 2004 interview where Larry King asked DeGeneres about the end of The Rosie O’Donnell Show, which ran from 1996 to 2002.
O’Donnell recalled how King asked, “‘Whatever happened to Rosie O’Donnell? Her show went down the tubes.'” and DeGeneres replied, “‘I don’t know Rosie. We’re not friends.'” O’Donnell couldn’t believe it, saying, “I have photos of her holding my newborn babies. I knew her for 30 years.”
Ellen DeGeneres had a history of hurting others before she was taken down
The whole thing was so upsetting to her that she even had custom T-shirts made with DeGeneres’s quote on them and gave them to her staff. The reason O’Donnell felt so betrayed was because of her own history with DeGeneres. She had stood by her when DeGeneres came out as gay on her sitcom in 1997, even though O’Donnell herself wasn’t out publicly at the time.
She recalled having DeGeneres on her show in 1996, where they had a “decoded, coded, interaction” about being “Lebanese” that only other gay people would understand. O’Donnell said that at the time, she felt her own career could be threatened by the association, but she chose to “stand by her and hold her hand.” She said she felt that instead of doing the same for her, DeGeneres “did the opposite.”
Rosie O’Donnell detailed her “painful” fallout with former TV host Ellen DeGeneres during an appearance on the ‘No Filter’ podcast. pic.twitter.com/4qt2hJxFcB
— E! News (@enews) September 10, 2025
O’Donnell left her show, which she was “offered a lot of money to stay” on, to focus on her family. She believed DeGeneres’s actions were motivated by a desire for her new show to be successful, and she was let down when DeGeneres didn’t support her in the way she had supported Ellen. While DeGeneres has contacted O’Donnell over the years, she has never apologized.
According to O’Donnell, DeGeneres has even asked, “‘Why are you still talking about this?'” after all these years. O’Donnell explained that it was a “profound” moment for her and that she believes DeGeneres thinks she rehashes the story for pleasure. “I don’t rehash it for pleasure, I rehash because our careers have taken sort of parallel interwoven paths.”
The story O’Donnell shared shines a light on how some of the most painful moments can come from people we are closest to. O’Donnell’s feelings of betrayal are so strong that she’s had to repeatedly talk about it over the years when asked, and she says she finds it hard not to tell the truth.
It’s an interesting parallel to O’Donnell’s relationship with Donald Trump and her feud with him, which DeGeneres actually supported O’Donnell in. After Trump threatened to revoke O’Donnell’s citizenship in a Truth Social post, DeGeneres posted a screenshot of it on her social media, writing, “Good for you,” and tagging O’Donnell. DeGeneres has not commented publicly on O’Donnell’s claims, but it’s clear there’s still a lot of hurt there.
