Rosie O'Donnell Shared The Comment From Ellen DeGeneres That She "Never Really Got Over"

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Rosie O'Donnell revealed why she's not friends with Ellen DeGeneres.

  Bruce Glikas / Bruce Glikas / WireImage
Bruce Glikas / Bruce Glikas / WireImage

Speaking to Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live, she attributed it to a comment she said Ellen made about her some years ago.

  Daniele Venturelli / WireImage
Daniele Venturelli / WireImage

"We had a little bit of a weird thing," Rosie said of their relationship. "After my show went off the air, and hers was coming on the air, Larry King was on with Ellen and he said, 'Whatever happened to Rosie O'Donnell? Her show went down the tubes. She came out as a lesbian and disappeared.'"

  Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen

She said that Ellen pulled a Mariah Carey on her, telling Larry, "'I don't know Rosie. We're not friends.'"

  Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen

That was a surprise because she and Ellen had, in fact, met before. Ellen had even been on The Rosie O'Donnell Show, where she made a memorable joke about being "Lebanese" as code for "lesbian" before she came out.

Rosie recalled hearing Ellen's remarks and expressing her shock to her then-wife Kelli Carpenter. "I was in bed with Kelli, and I went, 'Did I just hear that or was that, like, a hallucination auditory voice?'" she said. "I'm like, no, and that's what happened, and it hurt my feelings like a baby, and I never really got over it."

  Jim Spellman / WireImage
Jim Spellman / WireImage

Though she was later invited to appear on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, it ultimately didn't work out. Rosie said she tried to bring someone with her in an attempt to make it "a little less awkward," but the offer was refused.

Ellen's show has since ended after almost 20 years on the air.

Ellen's show has since ended after almost 20 years on the air.

Steve Granitz / WireImage

Oh well.