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Rosie O'Donnell is a Actor, Teleplay and Producer American born on 21 march 1962 at Commack (USA)

Rosie O'Donnell

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Birth name Roseann O'Donnell
Nationality USA
Birth 21 march 1962 (62 years) at Commack (USA)
Awards Primetime Emmy Award

Roseann "Rosie" O'Donnell (born March 21, 1962) is an American comedian, actress, author, and television personality. She has also been a magazine editor, and continues to be a celebrity blogger, lesbian rights activist, television producer, and collaborative partner in the LGBT family vacation company R Family Vacations.
O'Donnell started her comedy career while still a teenager. Her big break was on the talent show Star Search in 1984. After a TV sitcom and a series of movies introduced her to a larger national audience, from 1996 to 2002 she hosted The Rosie O'Donnell Show, which won multiple Emmy Awards. During this time, she wrote her first memoir, Find Me, and developed the nickname "Queen of Nice" as well as a reputation for philanthropic efforts. She used the book's $3 million advance to establish her For All Kids foundation and promote other charity projects, encouraging celebrities on her show to take part.

In 2002 two months before finishing her talk show run, O'Donnell came out, stating "I'm a dyke!" saying that her primary reason was to bring attention to gay adoption issues. O'Donnell is a foster and adoptive mother. She was named "Person of the Year" in a 2002 cover story by The Advocate with an in-depth interview by the magazine's editor-in-chief, Judy Wieder; in May 2003 she became a regular contributor to the magazine. She continues to do charity work and remains involved with LGBT and family-related issues.

In 2006 O'Donnell became a moderator on The View. Her strong opinions resulted in several notable controversies, including an on-air dispute regarding the Bush administration's policies with the Iraq War, resulting in a mutual agreement to cancel her contract. In 2007, O'Donnell released her second memoir, Celebrity Detox, which focuses on her struggles with fame and her time at The View. From 2009 to 2011, she hosted Rosie Radio on Sirius XM Radio. In 2011, O'Donnell signed on with the OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network to return to daytime TV with The Rosie Show. The network cancelled the show due to low ratings on March 16, 2012, and the last show aired on March 29, 2012. In July 2014, Rosie O'Donnell was rehired to join The View as a co-host for the series' eighteenth season. O'Donnell announced in February 2015 her decision to depart the series again, this time citing personal reasons for her departure.

Biography

O'Donnell was a resident of Nyack, New York after the purchase in 1996 of "Pretty Penny," a Victorian river home that had previously served as the home of Helen Hayes, the American actress and "First Lady of the American Theater." O'Donnell sold the home to businessman Edward M. Kopko in 2000.

Coming out
In her January 31, 2002 appearance on the sitcom Will & Grace, she played a lesbian mom. A month later as part of her act at the Ovarian Cancer Research benefit at Caroline's Comedy Club O'Donnell came out as a lesbian, announcing "I'm a dyke!" "I don't know why people make such a big deal about the gay thing. ... People are confused, they're shocked, like this is a big revelation to somebody." The announcement came two months before the end of the hosting of her talk show. Although she also cited the need to put a face to gays and lesbians, her primary reason was to bring attention to the gay adoption issue. O'Donnell is a foster and adoptive mother. She protested against adoption agencies, particularly in Florida, that refused adoptive rights to gay and lesbian parents.

Diane Sawyer interviewed O'Donnell in a March 14, 2002, episode of PrimeTime Thursday. O'Donnell told USA Today that she chose to talk to Sawyer because she wanted an investigative piece on Florida's ban on gay adoption. She told Sawyer if that was done, "I would like to talk about my life and how (the case) pertains to me." She spoke about the two gay men in Florida who face having a foster child they raised removed from their home. State law won't let them adopt because Florida bans gay or bisexual people from adopting. O'Donnell's coming out drew criticism from some LGBT activists who cited her repeated references to being enamored of Tom Cruise on The Rosie O'Donnell Show as deceptive. She responded in her act stating, "I said I wanted him to mow my lawn and bring me a lemonade. I never said I wanted to blow him." After leaving her show and coming out, O'Donnell returned to stand-up comedy, and cut her hair. O'Donnell told the press that her haircut was meant to mimic the haircut of former Culture Club backup singer Helen Terry.

O'Donnell was named 2002's "Person of the Year" by The Advocate, and in March 2013, she became a regular columnist for the magazine. The magazine's editor-in-chief, Judy Wieder, stated, "Today, Rosie's long and brave journey has led her not only to the cover of the Advocate – Rosie was honored with the magazine's Person of the Year Award for 2002 – but now to its chorus of voices, as a columnist."

Marriages and children
O'Donnell adopted her first child, Parker Jaren O'Donnell, as an infant in 1995. Parker is an aficionado of military history and, in 2011, successfully lobbied his mother to send him to Valley Forge Military Academy.

On February 26, 2004, O'Donnell married Kelli Carpenter, a former Nickelodeon marketing executive, in San Francisco two weeks after San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom authorized the granting of marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Her decision to go to San Francisco to marry Carpenter was seen as a show of defiance against then-U.S. President George W. Bush over his support for the Federal Marriage Amendment. She said in 2004, "We were both inspired to come here after the sitting President made the vile and hateful comments he made ... [O]ne thought ran through my mind on the plane out here – with liberty and justice for all." The couple was married by San Francisco Treasurer Susan Leal, one of The City's highest ranking lesbian officials, and serenaded by the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus. O'Donnell said during the trial over Rosie magazine she had decided to marry Carpenter, in part because even though they acted as spouses they legally were no closer than friends: "We applied for spousal privilege and were denied it by the state. As a result, everything that I said to Kelli, every letter that I wrote her, every e-mail, every correspondence and conversation was entered into the record ... I am now and will forever be a total proponent of gay marriage."

Carpenter and O'Donnell have three children together: Chelsea Belle O'Donnell (born 1997), Blake Christopher O'Donnell (born 1999), and Vivienne Rose O'Donnell, who was born to Carpenter in 2002 through artificial insemination. In 2000, the family took in a foster child Mia (born in 1997), and announced intentions to adopt her. In 2001, the state of Florida removed Mia from their home, and O'Donnell has since worked extensively to bring an end to the Florida law prohibiting same-sex family adoption.

In mid-November 2009, O'Donnell disclosed that Carpenter had moved out of their home in 2007. Their official union had ended in August 2004 when their marriage was among the thousands annulled by the California Supreme Court, making divorce unnecessary. In December 2009, O'Donnell was seen publicly with her new girlfriend, Tracy Kachtick-Anders, a Texas-based artist. O'Donnell ended her relationship with Kachtick-Anders in February 2011.

O'Donnell began dating 40-year-old executive-search consultant Michelle Rounds in mid-2011. On December 5, 2011, during a break in the taping of The Rosie Show, O'Donnell announced to her studio audience she and Rounds were engaged. The two married in a private ceremony in New York on June 9, 2012. On January 9, 2013, the couple announced they had adopted a baby girl named Dakota. O'Donnell resides in South Nyack, New York, and owns a home in Sarasota, Florida.

On February 6, 2015, representatives for O'Donnell confirmed she and Rounds had separated in November of the previous year. On February 28, 2015, a representative said O'Donnell had filed for divorce.

Health
In the summer of 2000, O'Donnell suffered a staph infection after she accidentally cut the middle finger of her left hand with a knife while cutting a price tag off a fishing pole. The infection incapacitated her for several weeks, and nearly resulted in doctors amputating her hand. She later quipped that George W. Bush was to blame for the infection, saying that she was preparing to go on a fishing trip at the time in order to avoid seeing Bush on television during the then-ongoing 2000 Republican National Convention.

O'Donnell suffered a heart attack in mid-August 2012. She says an artery was 99 percent blocked and a stent was inserted. She later revealed on Twitter that, to reverse her heart disease, she would espouse the whole-foods, plant-based diet promoted by Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn.