Rosie O’Donnell Reveals Exact Moment Feud With Trump Started

Martin Holmes March 25, 2025, 10:14 am

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Rosie O'Donnell and Donald Trump — The Late Late Show YouTube; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Rosie O’Donnell is making a fresh start with her 12-year-old daughter, Dakota, after moving from the United States to Ireland following the presidential victory of Donald Trump, her long-time public rival.

Appearing on the Irish network RTÉ’s The Late Late Show on Friday (March 21), the Emmy-winning actress and comedian opened up about her 20-plus year feud with the former The Apprentice host revealing the precise moment she believes it all kicked off.

O’Donnell said Trump has “had it out” for her for 20 years after she “told the truth about him on a program called The View.”

“I mentioned his bankruptcies, and I mentioned all of the sexual assault charges, and I mentioned that he was not, in fact, the businessman that everyone thinks he is because of the show, The Apprentice, where they sold a bunch of lies to America for over 10 years, and half of America believed it,” she continued.

O’Donnell served as the moderator on the ABC daytime talk show The View from 2006 to 2007 before returning for a brief stint in 2014.

“He was very angry, to say the least, and he hasn’t let it go,” the A League of Their Own actress said of Trump’s reaction to her comments. “And he sort of uses me as a punchline whenever he feels the need.”

One of those “punchlines” happened during Trump’s White House meeting with Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin earlier this month, when a reporter asked, “Why in the world would you let Rosie O’Donnell move to Ireland? I think she’s going to lower your happiness levels.”

When Martin said he wasn’t familiar with O’Donnell, Trump quipped, “You’re better off not knowing.”

“It’s very surreal,” O’Donnell said after watching the clip of the awkward White House moment. “He’s been doing it for two decades, and I’m still not used to it every time he does.”

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The Fosters alum went on to say she “felt very troubled that they put the Taoiseach in that position and didn’t treat him with the respect that a leader of that kind deserves when he’s visiting The White House.”

She also revealed she wrote Martin a “little note of apology to his email and got a note back that they had received it and thanked me.”

“But I just wanted him to know the history, and what happened and why [Trump] seems to be out to get me in ways that are startling to most,” O’Donnell added.

Earlier this month, O’Donnell shared a TikTok video in which she confirmed that she and her daughter had moved to Ireland. As for if she’d ever return to the U.S., she told her followers, “When it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America, that’s when we will consider coming back.”