Rosie O'Donnell Says Her 'Now and Then' Character Was Supposed to Be Gay but Studio Nixed It

"They took every little, tiny thing that I had done to build the character into an accurate gay woman and made her straight," the actress said

Rosie O'Donnell is alleging a huge change for her character in Now and Then was made without her consent.

O'Donnell, 61, played the adult version of Roberta Martin in the 1995 coming-of-age film — a character who is a tomboy as a preteen and said to live with a boyfriend in the present day.

Speaking with Brooke Shields on Tuesday's episode of the latter's Now What? podcast, the actress said she'd "love to do a Now and Then sequel," but that her character (whose younger version was played by Christina Ricci) was originally supposed to be a lesbian.

"In the film, I'm very close to Rita Wilson's character and I'm a gynecologist and I'm delivering her baby," O'Donnell explained. "And then I look up from catching the baby and I say to her, 'I love you.' You know, just friends, not as a lover."

She added, "And when they showed the film, the producer said, 'Let's take out that she's gay.' And they took every little, tiny thing that I had done to build the character into an accurate gay woman and made her straight."

A rep for O'Donnell tells PEOPLE that the actress/comedian misspoke, and that the studio, New Line Cinema, made the decision to change Roberta's sexuality.

PEOPLE has also reached out to reps for Warner Bros./New Line Cinema, Now and Then director Lesli Linka Glatter, co-producer Suzanne Todd and star/co-producer Demi Moore for comment.

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Related: Demi Moore Shares the Perfect Now and Then Throwback with Former Costar Melanie Griffith

O'Donnell went on to tell Shields, 57, that she couldn't believe the change was "really happening."

"But you know, this was before Will & Grace. This was before Ellen [DeGeneres] was out," she continued. "And it was very controversial to be gay, and — my agent didn't know if I should take the job because 'What if people find out that you're gay?' "

"And I was like, 'Come on, I'm an actress,' " O'Donnell said.

Now and Then follows three friends as they reconvene to help their fourth friend through her pregnancy. The group shares their memories of the unforgettable 1970 summer in which they all felt themselves grow up.

The film follows parallel timelines contrasting the four young friends — Samantha (Gaby Hoffmann), Roberta (Ricci, 43), Chrissy (Ashleigh Ashton Moore) and Teeny (Thora Birch) — with the women they grew up to be, played by Moore, 60, O'Donnell, Wilson, 66, and Melanie Griffith, respectively.

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Following a stint as a lesbian mom during a January 2002 episode of Will & Grace, O'Donnell herself came out during a comedy set the following month.

"I don't know why people make such a big deal about the gay thing," she declared onstage at Carolines comedy club in New York City on Feb. 25, 2002. "People are confused, they're shocked, like this is a big revelation to somebody."

Last month, O'Donnell told PEOPLE amid the launch of her Onward podcast that she's embarking upon a "third chapter" of her life these days.

"When I turned 60, I felt as though life is like a three-chapter book: zero to 30, 30 to 60, 60 onward," she shared. "I'm in the third chapter of the book. So let's put all the past in the past, and let's just focus on being where we are right now, and onward to another day."

O'Donnell added, "And that's kind of the place that I'm at in my life and careers. And that's the place that we arrive at the podcast."

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