Rosie O’Donnell has revealed she missed her daughter’s college graduation amid security concerns over her feud with President Donald Trump.
The actor and comedian, 63, moved to Ireland in January with her youngest child, Clay, in response to Trump’s return to the White House. Her elder daughter Vivienne, 22, graduated from the University of Delaware in May.
During a recent interview on the No Filter podcast, O’Donnell said: “My daughter graduated college and I didn't go back because the security people said to me they didn't think it was wise.”
She added: “Because I think Trump will use me to rile his base."
Trump, 79, recently used social media to post a distorted photograph of the star and claim: “We are giving serious thought to taking away Rosie O’Donnell’s Citizenship.”
In response to Trump’s post threatening to take away her citizenship, O’Donnell wrote on Instagram: “Banishing me again? Logan Roy would be proud,” in a reference to Brian Cox’s media mogul in Succession.
The president made similar comments about O’Donnell’s citizenship on Truth Social in July.
“Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship,” he wrote. “She is a Threat to Humanity, and should remain in the wonderful Country of Ireland, if they want her. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”
It didn’t take long for O’Donnell to respond.
She posted a photo of Trump with the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein to Instagram, and wrote: “Hey Donald –you’re rattled again? 18 years later and I still live rent-free in that collapsing brain of yours.”
She continued: “You want to revoke my citizenship? Go ahead and try, King Joffrey with a tangerine spray tan.”
Elsewhere in the interview, O'Donnell said that Trump had "created a lot of problems" for her dating back to his first administration.
She claimed that people would confront her on the street, swearing at her with no regard to Clay, who was then five years old.
"[Trump's] ability to denigrate people and dismiss them and humiliate them encouraged other people to do the same," said O’Donnell.
The comedian’s long-running feud with Trump stretches back to 2006 when she was a host on The View.
Touching briefly on her relationship with the current president back in March, she said: “I knew that it would really tax me emotionally to have to do that [live in Trump’s America]. So I'm very happy that we made the decision that we made.”
O’Donnell said that it is “heartbreaking to see what's happening politically” in the United States but thanked the people of Ireland for welcoming her. “It's been pretty wonderful, I have to say. The people are so loving and so kind, so welcoming. And I'm very grateful.”
