Whoopi Goldberg says she spotted former The View co-host Rosie O’Donnell backstage at the Broadway production Cats: The Jellicle Ball, where the two posed with the cast—weeks after O’Donnell drew attention for sharing her January facelift and the emotions behi
The Broadway lights were still burning backstage when Whoopi Goldberg found Rosie O’Donnell—close enough to turn the moment into a reunion. On the latest episode of The View, Goldberg shared that she saw her former co-star at Cats: The Jellicle Ball.
Cats: The Jellicle Ball is playing on Broadway until this coming January. Goldberg said the two women took pictures with the cast of the production, then shared those photos with her current The View co-hosts.
“Yes, Rosie was there,” Goldberg said. “She looks amazing.”
Sunny Hostin added what many viewers might have wondered too: “I thought she was in Ireland,” referencing O’Donnell’s new country of residence. Goldberg confirmed the shift with a quick, knowing response.
“She came back,” Goldberg explained. “She has a one-woman show she’s doing, too. She’s got all kinds of great stuff going on, but she looks amazing.”
The timing wasn’t lost on viewers. O’Donnell has been in the spotlight after she opened up about a facelift she underwent in January, describing it in detail after previously treating the idea as something that conflicted with her feminist ideals.
In May, the Rosie O’Donnell Show alum published a poem on her Substack newsletter spelling out the mental work behind the decision. She wrote, “I’d look in the mirror and think, this isn’t aging, / this is melting with intention,” capturing how she viewed her appearance before surgery.
In the end, the tone shifted to relief—and a kind of disbelief that the change would even be noticeable.
“And here’s the thing—no one has noticed. / Not one person. / Not a friend, not a stranger, / not even people who owe me compliments,” she said, later describing the result as subtle.
When she spoke to E! News earlier this month, O’Donnell said she shared her procedure to stay honest. “Authenticity is the goal in these days and times,” she said. “And I think all that matters is truth and love, and so I wanted to be truthful and say all the complicated emotions I had about it.”
Goldberg and O’Donnell overlap is part of why their reunion lands so clearly. The two women were co-hosts on The View from 2014 to 2015.
And O’Donnell’s relationship to the show has been complicated. In 2020, she admitted she had stopped interacting with the program after stepping down as a host. “I don’t watch it anymore because it upsets me. and because I think it’s been dumbed-down a lot. ” she told The Daily Beast at the time. “Everyone seems to think they have their two-minute sound bite and they want to get everything in but in the old days. The View had much more of a real conversation happening live. and it doesn’t feel like that’s happening anymore.”.
Still, on this episode, the conversation turned toward what could be seen for itself: O’Donnell backstage at Cats: The Jellicle Ball, pictures with the cast, and Goldberg’s simple verdict—“She looks amazing.”
Whoopi Goldberg Rosie O’Donnell The View Cats: The Jellicle Ball Broadway reunion facelift Substack Sunny Hostin Sunny Hostin Ireland