Rosie O’Donnell Defends Ellen DeGeneres – Says She Feels ‘Compassion’ For Her

Ellen DeGeneres has spent the past month teetering on the brink of being “cancelled.” Dozens of current and former employees came forward to accuse her of turning a blind eye to racism, intimidation, and sexual misconduct on the set of her talk show. During that time, very few celebrities have put themselves out there to come to DeGeneres’ defense.

That’s why it came as a surprise when Rosie O’Donnell did just that, saying that she has “compassion” for DeGeneres.

O’Donnell Defends DeGeneres

“You can’t fake your essence,” O’Donnell said while appearing on the podcast “Busy Philipps Is Doing Her Best.”

“That’s why I have compassion for Ellen,” she continued. “I have compassion, even though I hear the stories, and I understand. I think she has some social awkwardness. I think from knowing her for so many years, I have my own kind of history with her.”

Though she has a long history with DeGeneres, O’Donnell has never actually gone on her talk show for one reason.

“You know how Ellen surprises everyone?” she said, “I’ve never done that show because I’m terrified she’s going to scare me and give me a heart attack.”

RELATED: Ellen DeGeneres’ Producers Panic – Say ‘It Would Break A Lot Of Hearts’ To Cancel The Show

O’Donnell And DeGeneres Have Much In Common

Perhaps O’Donnell has “compassion” for DeGeneres because of the things they have in common. Not only are they both lesbian comedians, they also both have years of experience hosting talk shows. O’Donnell hosted her own talk show from 1996-2002. 

O’Donnell revealed in this same podcast that she decided that she wanted to host her own show to give her more time with her family at home. That would mean she no longer had to travel and work grueling hours on movie sets.

“I had to get a nanny, because I hadn’t had a nanny till then and he was like, you know, 8, 9 months old,” she said, referring to her son. “So I got my [housekeeper], Maria, to come with me to the movie set to help take care of him, and when I came home after, like, the second day of 12 hours, he wouldn’t come to me. He was staying with Maria… And I thought, I need a job where he can grow up with his cousins and his family around him, where I’m going to be there every day to take him to school.”

RELATED: Rosie O’Donnell Trashes ‘The View’ And Reveals Why She Can No Longer Watch It

O’Donnell Found Hosting To Be ‘Trippy’

O’Donnell ended her show six years later after concluding that hosting was a “trippy” experience. 

“[Hosting] wasn’t like anything close to real life,” O’Donnell recalled. “You know, you get mass adulation from the multitudes every day like a shot of heroin in your arm. You get people clapping at your very existence and then telling you how you altered their life, and it’s a lot to take in. And when I stepped away, I knew that this was all I could take.”

It remains to be seen whether O’Donnell’s defense of DeGeneres will do anything to save the struggling daytime talk show host from the wrath of the cancel culture mob.