Rosie O'Donnell said a 2004 on-air remark by Ellen DeGeneres — in which DeGeneres told Larry King the two were "not friends" — was "one of the most painful things" she has experienced and effectively ended a decades-long relationship between the two entertainers.
Speaking on the Mamamia podcast "No Filter," O'Donnell recounted watching the Larry King Live episode with her then-wife, Kelli Carpenter, and said she was stunned when King asked DeGeneres about the end of The Rosie O'Donnell Show and DeGeneres replied, "I don't know Rosie. We're not friends."
O'Donnell said the exchange felt like a betrayal because she had supported DeGeneres publicly when DeGeneres revealed she was a lesbian on her sitcom in 1997 and because the women had known each other for decades. "I have photos of her holding my newborn babies. I knew her for 30 years," O'Donnell said. She told the podcast she was so upset by DeGeneres' denial that she had custom T-shirts made with DeGeneres' quoted line and gave them to her staff.
O'Donnell described the relationship as built in part on mutual protection during a time when public discussion of homosexuality in the entertainment industry was more fraught. She said she had invited DeGeneres to appear on The Rosie O'Donnell Show in 1996 and that on that episode the two traded a "coded" exchange about sexual orientation that those in the gay community would understand. O'Donnell, who publicly acknowledged she is a lesbian in 2002, said she felt she had stood by DeGeneres when DeGeneres faced scrutiny and that she expected support in return when O'Donnell's own visibility changed.
O'Donnell said she left her eponymous talk show to focus on family despite being offered money to stay, and said she was hurt that DeGeneres — then beginning her own daytime program — did not publicly stand by her. "Instead of deciding to stand next to me and hold my hand, which is what I did to her, she did the opposite. And I couldn't believe it," O'Donnell said.
O'Donnell said the two have "never really gotten over it" and that she has never received an apology. She acknowledged, however, that DeGeneres has contacted her intermittently over the years, and quoted DeGeneres as asking, "Why are you still talking about this?" O'Donnell said she would have accepted an apology and that she revisits the episode not for pleasure but because the women's careers have followed parallel, interwoven paths as gay talk show hosts and because the incident was "profound" for her.
Representatives for DeGeneres did not respond to a request for comment through Fox News Digital, and DeGeneres has not publicly addressed O'Donnell's recent remarks. The two have occasionally intersected in public matters since their falling-out: O'Donnell moved to Ireland after the 2016 U.S. presidential election and, in July 2025, former President Donald Trump posted a social media comment threatening to revoke her citizenship. DeGeneres, who relocated to the United Kingdom with her wife, Portia de Rossi, reposted a screenshot of Trump's post in July 2025 with the message "Good for you" and tagged O'Donnell.
The dispute between O'Donnell and DeGeneres has been a recurring topic in entertainment coverage for more than two decades. O'Donnell rose to national prominence with The Rosie O'Donnell Show, which ran from 1996 to 2002 and earned multiple Emmy Awards. DeGeneres, who gained wide attention after coming out on her sitcom "Ellen" in 1997, later launched The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which became a long-running daytime presence.
O'Donnell's comments on the Mamamia podcast are the latest public recounting of the feud. She has addressed the rupture in past interviews and remains vocal about how she experienced DeGeneres' remark, framing it as a personal and professional wound rather than a matter of celebrity gossip. Fox News Digital reached out to DeGeneres' representatives for comment; DeGeneres has not issued a public response to O'Donnell's most recent account.