NEED TO KNOW<\/h3>\n\n- \n\n
In this week\u2019s PEOPLE cover story, Rosie O\u2019Donnell reflects on her late mother\u2019s influence, her parenting journey with five kids and her bond with her child Clay<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
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O\u2019Donnell also shares how weight loss, a facelift and time in Ireland have brought her peace and renewed confidence<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
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Her new one-woman show, Common Knowledge<\/em>, explores her experience of being a mother without her own mom<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nThe last time Rosie O\u2019Donnell<\/a> saw her mother, \u201cshe was on the green couch in the good living room where we were never allowed to go,\u201d the star recalls. \u201cI was learning how to look up words in the dictionary, and she asked me to look up \u2018beautiful.\u2019 She was so moved, and I was so happy that I leaned in close\u2014and I hurt her. She winced in pain and said, \u2018Be careful, Roseann.\u2019 I have not always been careful in my life,\u201d admits O\u2019Donnell, \u201cbut what she taught me stayed with me, which is to endure, to make people laugh and to lead with love.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\nThree days later, Roseann O\u2019Donnell died of breast cancer at 39<\/a>\u2014\u201cthe defining moment of my life,\u201d says O\u2019Donnell, 64, her namesake. But it wasn\u2019t until she moved to Ireland in January 2025 that the mom of five<\/a> (Parker, 31, Chelsea, 28, Blake, 26, Vivienne, 23, and Clay, 13) started writing about Roseann and her own experience \u201cbeing a mother while being motherless\u201d\u2014intimate stories that have since turned into her new one-woman show Common Knowledge<\/em><\/a>, which opens at New York City\u2019s Daryl Roth Theatre on July 22.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\nRosie O\u2019Donnell during her PEOPLE photo shoot in N.Y.C. in June.Credit: Allison Michael Orenstein<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
Happily back in the city with Clay (who is autistic and nonbinary) for the summer, O\u2019Donnell is \u201coverjoyed\u201d to be closer to her newest grandchild, Blake\u2019s 4-month-old son Anthony. She also recently visited her daughter Chelsea,<\/a> now sober, who\u2019s serving an 18-month sentence for drug possession, and says, \u201cThere\u2019s finally hope on the horizon.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\nCandid, unfiltered, and still obsessed with Barbra Streisand<\/a>, O\u2019Donnell runs into pals wherever she goes\u2014including during her People<\/em> photo shoot on the streets of New York. \u201cHey, Rosie!\u201d says a passerby. \u201cHey, Frankie, how are you?!\u201d she says. Turns out it\u2019s her friend Frankie Grande<\/a>\u2014singer Ariana Grande\u2019s brother and the star of Broadway\u2019s hit musical Titan\u00edque<\/em>. From her unfiltered TikTok \u201crambles\u201d on everything from politics to parenting, to her recent facelift, to her upcoming guest-host spot for <\/a>Jimmy Kimmel Live!<\/em><\/a>,<\/a>O\u2019Donnell\u2019s enjoying being back in the spotlight: \u201cIt\u2019s funny to be re-famous at 64.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\nWhat was the biggest surprise about Ireland?<\/strong><\/p>\nThe peace that I feel there. It is not a celebrity-obsessed culture. When people see me, they don\u2019t say, \u201cCould I have your picture?\u201d They say, \u201cWelcome, Rosie.\u201d Everywhere I looked, I saw people who looked like my family\u201490-year-old women in the supermarket. If my mom lived, that would\u2019ve been her, and I started writing about her and being a mother while being motherless.\u00a0<\/p>\n
How have you coped with the grief over the years?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nThere are two dividing lines in my life. My mother\u2019s death on March 17, 1973, and the birth of my [first] son, Parker, on June 14, 1995. It was difficult to not have a mom when you get your period and you need a bra. [My best friend] Jackie\u2019s mother, Bernice, got me my first training bra. I don\u2019t think you ever get over it. But hearing your child call you \u201cMama\u201d the first time, and now watching my 26-year-old son hold his baby, really did heal many of my maternal wounds.<\/p>\n
What does being a mom mean to you?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nPeople sometimes say, \u201cThat\u2019s so great that you adopted. You saved those kids.\u201d And I say, \u201cThose kids saved me.\u201d Each kid was like a floatie, and I was staying afloat because of my desire to give them a loving family that said \u201cI love you,\u201d which was never said in my house. Every time I hang up the phone, I say, \u201cI love you,\u201d and my kids say, \u201cYeah, Mom, you\u2019ve told us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n![\"Rosie](\"https:\/\/hermes.media.static.aol.com\/media\/2026\/07\/21\/90d43889-716d-3f77-a009-41af738bd469\/b027f83b-8c08-4735-878c-b357e25b1abc.jpg\"\/)
<\/div>\nRosie O\u2019Donnell on the rooftop of the Daryl Roth Theatre in NYC in June, where she\u2019s performing her one-woman show.Credit: Allison Michael Orenstein<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
What have you learned from parenting an autistic child?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nClay\u2019s vulnerability has forced me to be more connected and attached and for us to be close in a way that I hadn\u2019t been with my other kids. Autism is so miraculously curious. Clay understands very big concepts for a kid who\u2019s only 13. They said to me once, \u201cDo you realize that Cleopatra lived closer to the invention of the iPhone than she did to the completion of the Pyramids of Giza? Common knowledge.\u201d Hence the name of my show. I went into the bathroom and googled that, and it\u2019s true.<\/p>\n
What about your older kids?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nI love the fact that my kids still need me. My son Blake said, \u201cMommy, I want you to move back to be around my baby\u201d\u2014and that really hit home. The joy that I feel being around him and this newborn, I don\u2019t have the words for it.<\/p>\n\n\n![\"Rosie](\"https:\/\/hermes.media.static.aol.com\/media\/2026\/07\/21\/90d43889-716d-3f77-a009-41af738bd469\/ef01d8e8-f41c-48bb-ab37-98374d832958.jpg\"\/)
<\/div>\nRosie O\u2019Donnell with her childrenCredit: Rosie O’Donnell\/Instagram<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
How are things with Chelsea these days?<\/strong><\/p>\nShe\u2019s sober, and that\u2019s changed everything. She ran away at 17 to her birth mother and to a very drug-addled community in Wisconsin. I recently visited her in prison, which was overwhelmingly emotional, but I saw the kid that I used to know. She calls every day, and we talk.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve lost nearly 60 lbs. with a GLP-1.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nMounjaro changed my life<\/a>. I couldn\u2019t even pronounce it at first. I started three years ago when I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I was stunned at how it quieted the food noise. I\u2019ve had trouble with my weight my whole life. I know the shame and humiliation dealt to people who are overweight. My kids would come home from trick-or-treating with pillowcases full of candy and hide it. Smart children. I\u2019d wake up at 3 in the morning and go, \u201cThere\u2019s a Nestl\u00e9\u2019s Crunch bar somewhere.\u201d I couldn\u2019t help myself.\u00a0<\/p>\nHow has the weight loss changed your life?<\/strong><\/p>\nIt\u2019s very strange to just buy a pair of jeans that fit. When I would do late-night, my biggest concern wasn\u2019t my set\u2014it was, did I look fat? On League of Their Own<\/em>, [director] Penny Marshall didn\u2019t help by saying, \u201cRosie, I want you to lose 20 lbs.\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cYou think I carry it around for fun, Penny?\u201d When I look back, I go, \u201cGod, I wish I could have enjoyed the size I was.\u201d I\u2019m now at that same weight. But I feel much healthier, more powerful in my own physicality.<\/p>\n\n\n![\"Rosie](\"https:\/\/hermes.media.static.aol.com\/media\/2026\/07\/21\/90d43889-716d-3f77-a009-41af738bd469\/b0fff8a2-b23d-4d80-841a-d08bee91bec3.jpg\"\/)
<\/div>\nRosie O\u2019Donnell in N.Y.C. in June.Credit: Allison Michael Orenstein<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
You also decided to have a deep plane facelift.<\/strong><\/p>\nI lost so much weight<\/a> that I had a lot of excess skin here [pointing to her chin], and it made me look sad. People in Ireland said, \u201cRosie, are you all right, love?\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cIt\u2019s my face. I actually feel happy here.\u201d I didn\u2019t want my face to be frozen. I had to wrestle with myself because as a feminist I always felt this is the male gaze and not anything I believe in. Clay said, \u201cMommy, girls look up to you. What does your legacy stand for if you do this?\u201d I changed my mind for six months and then decided the real power of feminism [is] to decide what we want to do with our bodies and when.<\/p>\nTake PEOPLE with you! Subscribe to PEOPLE magazine<\/u><\/a> to get the latest details on celebrity news, exclusive royal updates, how-it-happened true crime stories and more \u2014 right to your mailbox.<\/p>\nYou\u2019ve been refreshingly open about it.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nI didn\u2019t make it public until everyone started saying, \u201cYou look so much better. What are you doing?\u201d I didn\u2019t want to be one of those people who says, \u201cOh, nothing.\u201d So why do I look like this? $90,000. I was worried about the cost. I don\u2019t like to waste money. I would never spend that on a car.<\/p>\n\n\n![\"Rosie](\"https:\/\/hermes.media.static.aol.com\/media\/2026\/07\/21\/90d43889-716d-3f77-a009-41af738bd469\/6c506789-1b3c-47fb-9726-c4a3db6f27b8.jpg\"\/)
<\/div>\nRosie O\u2019Donnell and ClayCredit: Courtesy<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
And Clay didn\u2019t notice?<\/strong><\/p>\nStill hasn\u2019t. I hope they don\u2019t pick up People<\/em> magazine\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009but you never know.\u00a0<\/p>\nNever miss a story \u2014 sign up for PEOPLE\u2019s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/p>\n
In this week\u2019s PEOPLE cover story, Rosie O\u2019Donnell reflects on her late mother\u2019s influence, her parenting journey with five kids and her bond with her child Clay<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
O\u2019Donnell also shares how weight loss, a facelift and time in Ireland have brought her peace and renewed confidence<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
Her new one-woman show, Common Knowledge<\/em>, explores her experience of being a mother without her own mom<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n The last time Rosie O\u2019Donnell<\/a> saw her mother, \u201cshe was on the green couch in the good living room where we were never allowed to go,\u201d the star recalls. \u201cI was learning how to look up words in the dictionary, and she asked me to look up \u2018beautiful.\u2019 She was so moved, and I was so happy that I leaned in close\u2014and I hurt her. She winced in pain and said, \u2018Be careful, Roseann.\u2019 I have not always been careful in my life,\u201d admits O\u2019Donnell, \u201cbut what she taught me stayed with me, which is to endure, to make people laugh and to lead with love.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Three days later, Roseann O\u2019Donnell died of breast cancer at 39<\/a>\u2014\u201cthe defining moment of my life,\u201d says O\u2019Donnell, 64, her namesake. But it wasn\u2019t until she moved to Ireland in January 2025 that the mom of five<\/a> (Parker, 31, Chelsea, 28, Blake, 26, Vivienne, 23, and Clay, 13) started writing about Roseann and her own experience \u201cbeing a mother while being motherless\u201d\u2014intimate stories that have since turned into her new one-woman show Common Knowledge<\/em><\/a>, which opens at New York City\u2019s Daryl Roth Theatre on July 22.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rosie O\u2019Donnell during her PEOPLE photo shoot in N.Y.C. in June.Credit: Allison Michael Orenstein<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n Happily back in the city with Clay (who is autistic and nonbinary) for the summer, O\u2019Donnell is \u201coverjoyed\u201d to be closer to her newest grandchild, Blake\u2019s 4-month-old son Anthony. She also recently visited her daughter Chelsea,<\/a> now sober, who\u2019s serving an 18-month sentence for drug possession, and says, \u201cThere\u2019s finally hope on the horizon.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Candid, unfiltered, and still obsessed with Barbra Streisand<\/a>, O\u2019Donnell runs into pals wherever she goes\u2014including during her People<\/em> photo shoot on the streets of New York. \u201cHey, Rosie!\u201d says a passerby. \u201cHey, Frankie, how are you?!\u201d she says. Turns out it\u2019s her friend Frankie Grande<\/a>\u2014singer Ariana Grande\u2019s brother and the star of Broadway\u2019s hit musical Titan\u00edque<\/em>. From her unfiltered TikTok \u201crambles\u201d on everything from politics to parenting, to her recent facelift, to her upcoming guest-host spot for <\/a>Jimmy Kimmel Live!<\/em><\/a>,<\/a>O\u2019Donnell\u2019s enjoying being back in the spotlight: \u201cIt\u2019s funny to be re-famous at 64.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n What was the biggest surprise about Ireland?<\/strong><\/p>\n The peace that I feel there. It is not a celebrity-obsessed culture. When people see me, they don\u2019t say, \u201cCould I have your picture?\u201d They say, \u201cWelcome, Rosie.\u201d Everywhere I looked, I saw people who looked like my family\u201490-year-old women in the supermarket. If my mom lived, that would\u2019ve been her, and I started writing about her and being a mother while being motherless.\u00a0<\/p>\n How have you coped with the grief over the years?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n There are two dividing lines in my life. My mother\u2019s death on March 17, 1973, and the birth of my [first] son, Parker, on June 14, 1995. It was difficult to not have a mom when you get your period and you need a bra. [My best friend] Jackie\u2019s mother, Bernice, got me my first training bra. I don\u2019t think you ever get over it. But hearing your child call you \u201cMama\u201d the first time, and now watching my 26-year-old son hold his baby, really did heal many of my maternal wounds.<\/p>\n What does being a mom mean to you?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n People sometimes say, \u201cThat\u2019s so great that you adopted. You saved those kids.\u201d And I say, \u201cThose kids saved me.\u201d Each kid was like a floatie, and I was staying afloat because of my desire to give them a loving family that said \u201cI love you,\u201d which was never said in my house. Every time I hang up the phone, I say, \u201cI love you,\u201d and my kids say, \u201cYeah, Mom, you\u2019ve told us.\u201d<\/p>\n Rosie O\u2019Donnell on the rooftop of the Daryl Roth Theatre in NYC in June, where she\u2019s performing her one-woman show.Credit: Allison Michael Orenstein<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n What have you learned from parenting an autistic child?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Clay\u2019s vulnerability has forced me to be more connected and attached and for us to be close in a way that I hadn\u2019t been with my other kids. Autism is so miraculously curious. Clay understands very big concepts for a kid who\u2019s only 13. They said to me once, \u201cDo you realize that Cleopatra lived closer to the invention of the iPhone than she did to the completion of the Pyramids of Giza? Common knowledge.\u201d Hence the name of my show. I went into the bathroom and googled that, and it\u2019s true.<\/p>\n What about your older kids?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n I love the fact that my kids still need me. My son Blake said, \u201cMommy, I want you to move back to be around my baby\u201d\u2014and that really hit home. The joy that I feel being around him and this newborn, I don\u2019t have the words for it.<\/p>\n Rosie O\u2019Donnell with her childrenCredit: Rosie O’Donnell\/Instagram<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n How are things with Chelsea these days?<\/strong><\/p>\n She\u2019s sober, and that\u2019s changed everything. She ran away at 17 to her birth mother and to a very drug-addled community in Wisconsin. I recently visited her in prison, which was overwhelmingly emotional, but I saw the kid that I used to know. She calls every day, and we talk.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve lost nearly 60 lbs. with a GLP-1.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Mounjaro changed my life<\/a>. I couldn\u2019t even pronounce it at first. I started three years ago when I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I was stunned at how it quieted the food noise. I\u2019ve had trouble with my weight my whole life. I know the shame and humiliation dealt to people who are overweight. My kids would come home from trick-or-treating with pillowcases full of candy and hide it. Smart children. I\u2019d wake up at 3 in the morning and go, \u201cThere\u2019s a Nestl\u00e9\u2019s Crunch bar somewhere.\u201d I couldn\u2019t help myself.\u00a0<\/p>\n How has the weight loss changed your life?<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s very strange to just buy a pair of jeans that fit. When I would do late-night, my biggest concern wasn\u2019t my set\u2014it was, did I look fat? On League of Their Own<\/em>, [director] Penny Marshall didn\u2019t help by saying, \u201cRosie, I want you to lose 20 lbs.\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cYou think I carry it around for fun, Penny?\u201d When I look back, I go, \u201cGod, I wish I could have enjoyed the size I was.\u201d I\u2019m now at that same weight. But I feel much healthier, more powerful in my own physicality.<\/p>\n Rosie O\u2019Donnell in N.Y.C. in June.Credit: Allison Michael Orenstein<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n You also decided to have a deep plane facelift.<\/strong><\/p>\n I lost so much weight<\/a> that I had a lot of excess skin here [pointing to her chin], and it made me look sad. People in Ireland said, \u201cRosie, are you all right, love?\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cIt\u2019s my face. I actually feel happy here.\u201d I didn\u2019t want my face to be frozen. I had to wrestle with myself because as a feminist I always felt this is the male gaze and not anything I believe in. Clay said, \u201cMommy, girls look up to you. What does your legacy stand for if you do this?\u201d I changed my mind for six months and then decided the real power of feminism [is] to decide what we want to do with our bodies and when.<\/p>\n Take PEOPLE with you! Subscribe to PEOPLE magazine<\/u><\/a> to get the latest details on celebrity news, exclusive royal updates, how-it-happened true crime stories and more \u2014 right to your mailbox.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve been refreshingly open about it.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n I didn\u2019t make it public until everyone started saying, \u201cYou look so much better. What are you doing?\u201d I didn\u2019t want to be one of those people who says, \u201cOh, nothing.\u201d So why do I look like this? $90,000. I was worried about the cost. I don\u2019t like to waste money. I would never spend that on a car.<\/p>\n Rosie O\u2019Donnell and ClayCredit: Courtesy<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n And Clay didn\u2019t notice?<\/strong><\/p>\n Still hasn\u2019t. I hope they don\u2019t pick up People<\/em> magazine\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009but you never know.\u00a0<\/p>\n Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for PEOPLE\u2019s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
![\"Rosie](\"https:\/\/hermes.media.static.aol.com\/media\/2026\/07\/21\/90d43889-716d-3f77-a009-41af738bd469\/7de5322d-97d4-486b-a198-214dc32c7bee.jpg\"\/)
<\/div>![\"Rosie](\"https:\/\/hermes.media.static.aol.com\/media\/2026\/07\/21\/90d43889-716d-3f77-a009-41af738bd469\/f15ea0a2-1b26-47a9-879f-1ec65f510566.jpg\"\/)
<\/div>![\"Rosie](\"https:\/\/hermes.media.static.aol.com\/media\/2026\/07\/21\/90d43889-716d-3f77-a009-41af738bd469\/cca87cd1-3594-426a-89ee-78a32743cdd4.jpg\"\/)
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