Rosie O'Donnell Opens Up About Foster Care Child She Wasn't Allowed to Adopt: 'It Inspired Me'
Rosie O'Donnell says her inability to adopt her foster kids in Florida was a moment that drove her to make change
Rosie O'Donnell is recalling a painful time while fostering two children.
In a sitdown with The Hollywood Reporter, the actress, 60, opened up about having fostered two children over a decade ago, but being unable to adopt them because of Florida laws.
"The boy ended up having to go to a special needs foster home. And the girl stayed with us for three years," she recalled. "After three years, we tried to adopt her, and there was a law [overturned in 2010] that prevented gay people from adopting even the foster children they raised."
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O'Donnell is mom to Dakota, 10, Vivienne, 20, Blake Christopher, 23, Chelsea, 25, and Parker Jaren, 27. She is also a grandma to Chelsea's daughters — 14-month-old Avery Lynn, 2-year-old Riley, and Skylar Rose, 4.
The former daytime host noted that there are "half a million kids in foster care" and were "so many gay people wanting to be parents."
"So I sued with the ACLU. I was in support of that lawsuit with it and did all the publicity for it," she shared, explaining it eventually inspired her gay cruise line.
"So we did it. We got together and I rented a boat. It was a lot of money and it was a big risk, but when people were showing up that first day, it was an overwhelming confirmation that you were not alone in this world and that we are masses of people."
O'Donnell penned an emotional essay for PEOPLE in September about raising daughter Dakota, who diagnosed with autism at age 2½ in 2016.
"With Dakota, I am learning to have compassion much deeper than I ever did," she said. "To really listen and communicate in a way I never had to with my other kids."
"I know there are people struggling and they don't know how they will get through another day. And I understand. But the sense of vulnerability that comes with having a kid with autism has been a gift to me. She teaches me."
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