Rosie O'Donnell doesn't think she's famous anymore. "No one knows who you are," the actress, talk-show host, LGBT advocate and mom was recently told by her own son.
Others aren't so sure: the very name of Rosie O'Donnell continues to makes news. Her heart-attack scare in 2012 became a national teaching moment, in which Rosie urged women to be in control of their health. Her recent return to The View was short-lived, but like everything Rosie does, it captured the interest of the media and of viewers. O'Donnell remains active as an actress, currently appearing in the lesbian drama The Fosters on Freeform (formerly ABC Family), and is active both as a producer and a performer on Broadway.
O'Donnell's first tenure on The View in 2007 proved to be a tabloid-writer's dream. Rosie and a former View co-host, the ultra-conservative Elizabeth Hasselbeck, famously shouted each other down in front of millions of viewers. At the time O'Donnell was roundly criticized for her "shrewish" demeanor, though even some of her harshest critics grudgingly admitted that O'Donnell was usually right.
"America was not awake yet," O'Donnell told the B.A.R. "The shock of 9/11 had put us in a coma. A lot of the things I spoke passionately about are now of concern to a lot of people."
O'Donnell feels that these days, many TV viewers are too quick to jump to conclusions. "People have a narrative," she observed. "You're either a villain or a patriot. There's a whole gray area where most people actually are. We need that gray area in the current political race, with what's coming out of the extremist side." She advises people to keep their wits about them. "You have to check yourself," she said. "Be careful what you become."
O'Donnell first gained notice in the 1980s, when she was hired to work as a "vee-jay," a video disc jockey, on the then-fledgling music video channel VH1. Her sets became an instant hit with viewers due to O'Donnell's quick wit and unusual way of introducing herself.
"The suits insisted that I introduce myself every four hours," she recalls. "I felt foolish saying my name over and over again, so I began introducing myself by a variety of made-up names. I never used the same name twice." Network executives never caught on, Rosie added, because they weren't watching!
O'Donnell went on to an illustrious career, though she had to keep her lesbianism under wraps for quite awhile. It was a different world then, but the ever-fearless O'Donnell began to gingerly open her closet door long before her official coming out. In 1996 she and the soon-to-come-out Ellen DeGeneres joked about being "Lebanese" on O'Donnell's popular chat show. In 2002 she appeared on Will & Grace, her character proclaiming that she would come out in her own time, on her own terms. She also played a newly out lesbian during a highly regarded three-episode stint on Showtime's Queer as Folk. "I wanted to kiss Sharon Gless. She remains a close friend."
She said that acting remains her first love. "I wanted to be a star on Broadway. I wanted to sing and dance and be in the movies," she recalled of her youth. "I got sidetracked on the talk show."
These days O'Donnell is an out and proud lesbian mom. Gone are the days when her sexuality could tarnish her career. She sees the landmark SCOTUS ruling that legalized marriage equality in all 50 states as the benchmark for how far we've come.
"I was so overwhelmed," she said of that day. "Seeing the freedom in people's faces �" I was free! I hadn't realized how caged we were."
And in case you were wondering, O'Donnell is supporting Hillary Clinton. "As a woman, I want to see a woman in the White House," she said. "I do agree with Bernie Sanders' ideals, but the application is not practical. Clinton is the #1 most qualified person for the job."
This interview was conducted in anticipation of O'Donnell's appearance at the Nourse Theater. Unfortunately, that show has been cancelled.