Rosie O’Donnell is sharing a glimpse into her reunion with daughter Chelsea O’Donnell after years of estrangement.
Rosie, 64, took to Instagram on Thursday, August 27, with a photo from her recent visit to see Chelsea, 28, at Taycheedah Correctional Institution in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, where she is currently serving an 18-month prison sentence after violating her probation following multiple arrests in 2024. The image showed the former talk show host wearing a black T-shirt as she hugged her daughter, who sported a green button-down prison uniform.
Rosie also shared a screenshot of a text exchange with Chelsea.
“Thank you mom, I got my music back today,” Chelsea wrote to her mom. “How are you? I’m trying to get ahold of the social worker to let her know the plans for when I get out, Hannah texted her for me.”
Rosie replied, “OK great – got my nails done – no more gel for me, my nails are ruined. Are you reading a good book?”
Chelsea responded, “I am reading the Legacy series, it’s really good. She has a bunch of other books too. And yeah, I haven’t painted my nails in years but I remember that stuff breaking my nails.”
Chelsea had her probation revoked and was sentenced to jail in October 2025 after she was arrested three times on drug-related charges in 2024, starting with an arrest that September on felony charges including neglecting a child and possession of methamphetamine.
In February 2025, Chelsea — a mother of four — pleaded guilty to resisting or obstructing an officer, felony bail jumping and possession of methamphetamine. The following month, she was sentenced to six years of probation. She faced prison time if she violated the probation’s requirements, including absolute sobriety, no possession of alcohol or another controlled substance without a valid prescription, no contact with any known drug users or sellers and no possession or ownership of any firearm.
In June, Rosie shared a poem detailing her visit to her daughter behind bars.
“I arrive early. It’s very hot. I’m wearing shorts. Waiting for her,” she wrote. “In what looks like a children’s nursery room, Disney murals on cement walls. Vending machines. Table 8 — I’m told to sit. In one of the red chairs. Beige is for the inmate. The guard explained the rules.”
In July, Rosie revealed told Page Six that her visit with Chelsea was “the first conversation I’ve had with her in 10 years that lasted more than 15 minutes.”
“The first time that I saw her in a consistent way was the four hours in the prison,” she added.
Later that month, Rosie told People that Chelsea is now sober which “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,” she explained.
“I saw the kid that I used to know,” Rosie — who adopted Chelsea as a baby with ex-wife Kelli Carpenter — continued. “She calls every day, and we talk.”
