A living legend. Rosie O’Donnell gave Us Weekly an update on her former View boss, Barbara Walters, during an exclusive interview.
“I don’t think she’s up to speaking to people now,” the 57-year-old comedian told Us at The Sound Inside opening night on Broadway in New York City on Thursday, October 17. “I think she’s a wonderful woman, and it’s hard to age in America, never mind if you’re internationally famous.”
Walters, 90, created the long-running all-female ABC talk show in 1997. While she retired as a cohost in 2014 after 16 seasons, the journalist still serves as an executive producer.
O’Donnell, for her part, had two stints on the panel. The former Rosie O’Donnell Show host’s first run on the show was from 2006 to 2007. After returning to the series in 2014, O’Donnell exited The View again in 2015. However, the actress had nothing but nice things to say about Walters.
“I’ll always love and respect her and I think she’s a great person,” O’Donnell told Us on Thursday.
The Celebrity Detox author also raved about her family, including her son Parker’s recent engagement.
“I love her. Her name is Hannah and she’s lovely, and I can’t wait to see the whole thing and then have some beautiful babies,” O’Donnell told Us on Thursday. “He just got back from his first deployment. He’s a Marine right now and so when he came home we had some champagne bottles popping. She’s very excited to get married and do the whole thing and excited for babies which makes me happy.”
O’Donnell, a mother of five, became a grandmother for the first time in December 2018 when her daughter Chelsea gave birth to Skylar Rose, 10 months.
“Just to see that little girl with my little girl’s face is pretty overwhelming,” she gushed to Us. “Throws me back 22 years.”
Reporting by Nicki Gostin
