Rosie O’Donnell says she has moved to Ireland with her daughter Dakota, and she also described a surprise Broadway reunion with Whoopi Goldberg—after years of public friction during their time on “The View.” O’Donnell said Goldberg was “very kind” and describe
Rosie O’Donnell didn’t need a conversation to set the tone for her reunion with Whoopi Goldberg—she just had to look around a Broadway audience and recognize her.
O’Donnell, 64, said she was attending a recent performance of “Cats: The Jellicle Ball” when she noticed Goldberg in the crowd. “I looked in the audience and I thought, ‘That can’t be Whoopi Goldberg, right?’” she said during an interview on SiriusXM’s “Andy Cohen Live” on Tuesday, June 16.
She acknowledged that recognition wasn’t hard once she got a closer look. “But, you know, she’s pretty identifiable,” O’Donnell said. “It’s not like a lot of people look like Whoop.”
That moment landed differently than their history on television. O’Donnell previously cohosted “The View” starting in 2006. taking over for cohost and moderator Meredith Vieira. and she left the show the following year. Her departure came after a heated on-air confrontation with cohost Elisabeth Hasselbeck and what was described as a reported failure to reach a contract renewal with ABC. Goldberg was brought onto the show as O’Donnell’s replacement.
The two women would later appear together on screen when O’Donnell returned to “The View” in 2014.
O’Donnell has said those earlier years carried real tension. In an interview for the 2019 book “Ladies Who Punch. ” an exposé on the daytime telecast by Ramin Setoodeh. O’Donnell described working with Goldberg as the “worst experience I’ve ever had on live television.” She later criticized Setoodeh for his portrayal of “The View. ” calling her 20-minute interview with the Variety editor-in-chief her “biggest regret.”.
Even so, O’Donnell said the Broadway meeting felt like a release from that past. “She’s been very kind. ” O’Donnell said on “Andy Cohen Live.” “I’ve seen her a couple times since our disastrous tag-team hellacious ‘View’ extravaganza. but she was there with her daughter and told me that she just became a great-grandmother again. … She doesn’t look like a great-grandmother, and she looks fantastic.”.
Goldberg. 70. echoed the warm shift in public comments during a recent appearance on “The View.” On the June 10 episode. the Oscar-winning actress and host recounted her experience attending “Cats: The Jellicle Ball. ” including her run-in with O’Donnell. “Rosie was there. She looks amazing,” Goldberg said. “She has a one-woman show she’s doing, too. She’s got all kinds of great stuff going on.”.
Separate from the reunion story, O’Donnell also used TikTok to say she has moved to Ireland with her daughter Dakota.
Taken together—past “View” clashes. a Broadway audience moment. and two separate interviews in which both women chose kindness—it was a rare public contrast. Goldberg has the familiarity of a co-star-turned-rival history behind her. and O’Donnell described turning that history into something lighter once they finally met again in person.
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Rosie O'Donnell Whoopi Goldberg The View Cats: The Jellicle Ball SiriusXM Andy Cohen Live Broadway Ireland Dakota entertainment news