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Late last year, Rosie O'Donnell revealed on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen that her feelings were hurt when Ellen DeGeneres denied their friendship on Larry King Live back in 1998.
DeGeneres was asked by King about O'Donnell's show's decline after her coming out.
DeGeneres responded:
“I don’t know Rosie; we’re not friends.”
At the time O'Donnell was shocked.
"I was watching TV in bed with my wife going, “Did she just say that?”
But recently, O'Donnell shared with The Hollywood Reporter that DeGeneres recently texted her and apologized.
"She wrote, 'I’m really sorry and I don’t remember that.'"
"I guess she saw me talk about it on Andy Cohen’s show. I remembered it so well, I had T-shirts printed and I gave them to my staff that said 'I don’t know Rosie. We’re not friends.'"
"I have a picture of her holding [my then-infant son] Parker. I know her mother. I could identify her brother without her in the room."
"I knew her for so many years. It just felt like I don’t trust this person to be in my world."
People on social media sympathized with O'Donnell for being upset in the moment.
\u201c@PageSix Rosie\u2019s reaction is, I think, a common way to feel as an adult whose feelings were hurt by someone they thought was a friend.\u201d— Page Six (@Page Six) 1686969065
\u201c@TMZ @TooFab \ud83d\ude32\u201d— TMZ (@TMZ) 1686868974
\u201c@TMZ @TooFab Sad\u2026 so sad\u201d— TMZ (@TMZ) 1686868974
\u201c@nypost I agree with Rosie. Never thought I\u2019d say that, but on this she is right.\u201d— New York Post (@New York Post) 1686875759
And sadly, many were not surprised by DeGeneres' behavior.
\u201c@PageSix Don\u2019t blame her after the stuff I heard about how she really is.\n\nRosie would know.\u201d— Page Six (@Page Six) 1686880716
\u201c@ThePerezHilton Ellen made a career out of being toxic and mean. She has done some good shedding light on important topics etc but her money can\u2019t buy her a likeable personality. Ppl have been scared for ages in tinsel town to speak up about it. I\u2019m glad that has changed these last few years\u2026\u201d— Perez (@Perez) 1686979811
\u201c@thedailybeast Quite a bit has come out about @EllenDeGeneres. Not quite the nice person she poses to be. Money and fame turned her into a prima donna with a sour attitude.\u201d— The Daily Beast (@The Daily Beast) 1686853316
\u201c@nypost Rosie\u2019s not the most reliable source. But her story has the ring of truth, and it\u2019s spot-on when Ellen says, \u201cI don\u2019t remember that.\u201d That\u2019s exactly what a narcissistic bully says. As legitimately funny as Ellen\u2019s standup is, her mean personality is a real turn off.\u201d— New York Post (@New York Post) 1686875759
While DeGeneres did reach out to O'Donnell, "checking in," O'Donnell admits there's still some "weirdness."
"But we’ve had our weirdness in our relationship. I don’t know if it’s jealousy, competition or the fact that she said a mean thing about me once that really hurt my feelings."
"It would never occur to me to say 'I don’t know her' about somebody whose babies I held when they were born."
"It wouldn’t be in my lexicon of choices to ever say. When she was in a perplexing situation and people were saying things about her, I said, 'Let me stand next to you and say that I’m Lebanese, too.'"
"When it was a downward media time for me, she didn’t do anything."
We can definitely see why she would feel hurt.