NEWSRosie O’Donnell Won’t Return to Daytime TV
Dec. 9 2009, Published 1:00 p.m. ET
Even though Oprah Winfrey has announced her retirement in 2011, Rosie O’Donnell doesn’t intend to step back into the talk show arena.
Why not? She likes to go bra-less!
“I don’t think so,” the makeup-free mom of four tells me during In Their Boots documentary series screening of My Mom’s A Soldier held at NYC’s Tribeca Cinemas this week. “I don’t think anyone could ever replace Oprah.”
She continues, “I’m very happy to be on radio because I don’t have to wear makeup, I don’t have to wear a bra and I don’t have to leave my house, so my days as a talk-show host are done. I had a great time doing it, and there will never be anyone better than what she did. Twenty-five years at number one. She literally changed the world.”
The 47-year-old comedian/actress/activist hosted The View from 2005-2007 and The Rosie O’Donnell Show from 1996-2002.
These days, Rosie is supporting Meredith Baxter-Birney for coming out as a lesbian and getting behind good causes like InYourBoots.com. She plans to use her star power to stump for the military documentary series that follows the lives of the men and women who serve in the armed forces.
“People think I’m nuts,” she jokes, “but they have my support.”
What difference does she hope to make?
“It’s tragic to me that InTheirBoots.com is not a television show on a major network every single night,” she says. “If I ran a network, that’s what I would do. I’m going to go make the rounds at Lifetime, Discovery and Bravo, and say ‘I would gladly host wraparounds’ so we can roll three 20-minute segments during one hour a week. I would do it for no money. I will do it just so people can understand the sacrifices American families are making once one member joins the armed forces. We have to be aware of what they’re giving up in order to serve our nation.”
She makes a plea for major companies such as AOL and T-Mobile to donate their services to men serving in the military, and cautions that soldiers need to buy their own bulletproof vests.
Find out more at InYourBoots.com.
