Rosie O’Donnell “needed” to move to Ireland away from the US for the “safety and sanity” of herself and her youngest child.
Rosie O’Donnell “needed” to leave the US for the “safety and sanity” of herself and her youngest child.
The 62-year-old comedienne revealed last month that she and her youngest child Clay, 12, had relocated to Ireland earlier this year after Donald Trump was re-elected as president and they couldn’t be happier in their new home of Howth on the outskirts of Dublin.
She told Us Weekly magazine: “I know myself enough to know that this was something I needed to do for the safety and sanity of myself and my non-binary child…
“There’s a great, great school there. And Clay has done very well. And they were really welcoming.
“And I love the little town, the little village. It’s in the heart of Dublin, but it’s still a village where you know the name of the grocer and you know the name of the cashiers. People are unbearably kind in a way that shocks me every single day.”
Rosie – who is also the adoptive mother of Parker, 29, Chelsea, 27, Blake, 25, and 22-year-old Vivienne – has found one part of relocating that has been “very hard” is no longer being able to regularly participate in group calls with her closest friends because of the time difference, but she’s doing her best to stay in regular contact.
She said: “It’s been very hard because of the time zone for me to participate in that. And I really miss that.
“I call my kids, I FaceTime my kids. I have two best friends, Junie and Jackie, since I [was] three years old. They’re really like sisters. And I talk to them all the time. I have two brothers I’m very close to. I talk to them all the time.”
Fellow comic Ellen DeGeneres and her wife Portia de Rossi have moved to England as a result of the political climate in the US and Rosie admitted she was “shocked” by the ‘Finding Dory’ star’s move.
She said: “I’ve never really known Ellen to say anything political in her life, so I was surprised to read that she left because of President Trump. Like, that shocked me, actually.
“I’ve been a political person my whole life, not better or worse, it’s just a different way to be in the world. I was very clear about the reason why I was leaving, and I don’t think it came as a surprise to anyone.
“We’re not really in each other’s worlds, and it’s been kind of awkward but you know what? I wish her the best. I wish that she has peace and love in her life and that she is OK.”
Although there is still unresolved “stuff” between herself and Ellen, Rosie – who previously accused the former talk show host of claiming she didn’t know who she was – doesn’t bear any “malice” towards her.
She said: “I don’t want to fight against another gay woman. It’s not like we’re tenaciously opposed to each other. We’re just very different people.
“We have had some stuff in the past that we never resolved. And not in any way as, as partners or lovers or anything like that, just as friends and comedians, but I wish her the best. I seriously do.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved for ‘safety and sanity’
