Family reunion! Rosie O’Donnell and her estranged daughter, Chelsea, seem to have made amends — they stepped out together at an NYC event on Monday, June 20.
Months after the 18-year-old cut off contact with her adoptive mother, the pair posed for photos with each other at Fran Drescher’s Cancer Schmancer Cabaret Cruise. They even performed a duet of the song “Alexander Hamilton” from the smash hit, prize-winning Broadway play, an onlooker tells Us Weekly.
“Rosie then said a few words for an intro and was making the whole crowd laugh before giving a rundown of the other entertainment for the night. Rosie did not seem to be in the best of moods,” the eyewitness says. “Chelsea seemed happy and to be in a great mood.” The mother-daughter duo left shortly after their opening number.
The former View co-host, 54, shares Chelsea and three other children — Parker, 21, Blake, 16, and Vivienne, 13 — with her ex-wife Kelli Carpenter. The former couple adopted Chelsea in 1997 when she was just 9 weeks old. O’Donnell also shares daughter Dakota, 3, with ex-wife Michelle Rounds.
The mother-daughter tension began last August when Chelsea went missing from her family’s Nyack, New York, home for nearly two weeks. The comedian’s rep claimed that the teen was in need of medical attention because she didn’t have her prescription medication, which she used to treat her anxiety and depression. She was finally found in New Jersey with a convicted heroin dealer named Steven M. Sheerer, whom she reportedly met on the dating app Tinder. (He was charged with endangering the welfare of a child because Chelsea was only 17 at the time of the incident.)
After Chelsea’s 18th birthday on August 24, O’Donnell said that her daughter went to live with her birth mother, Deanna, in Wisconsin. At the time, O’Donnell’s rep told Us it was Chelsea’s “choice” to move out. “Chelsea made a decision when she turned 18 that she wanted to go to her birth mother,” the rep said. On the other hand, Chelsea claimed in an October interview with the Daily Mail that she was kicked out of the family home. It’s unclear where Chelsea was permanently living since she also told the Daily Mail that she was staying with her “boyfriend” Sheerer at his parents’ home.
The teen slammed her famous adoptive mother in the bombshell interview and claimed life at her home life was a mess. Chelsea alleged that her mother was constantly locked away in her arts and crafts room smoking weed (which O’Donnell later said was prescribed for depression) and frequently yelled at her after she split with Carpenter. She said their meals were regularly from fast food restaurants because only Carpenter knew how to cook and that O’Donnell never got dressed or wore makeup unless her beauty team came to the residence. The League of Their Own actress later called the interview “heartbreaking on every level.”
Chelsea also denied that she’s mentally ill. “Putting out there that I am mentally ill was really hurtful. People think I’m this crazy person and as I’ve said, I have depression and bad anxiety,” she told the Daily Mail.
Back in November, O’Donnell told Us Weekly that she hoped Chelsea was safe. “It hasn’t been easy, but we love her very much, and we hope she’s safe and starts to make some better choices,” she said. “But when a child turns 18, there’s nothing legally that a parent can do, and she’s turned 18. So, we hope that she is safe, number one, and that she finds her way back home.”
