Rosie O’Donnell may have traded the United States for Ireland, but her preoccupation with President Donald Trump has followed her every step of the way — and, by her own admission, shows no signs of loosening its grip.
According to Fox News, the 63-year-old comedian has spoken openly about her decision to relocate after Trump’s re-election last November. Friends, family, and O’Donnell herself described the move in a recent interview with The Washington Post, and one theme emerged repeatedly: she can’t stop talking about him.
The report states that O’Donnell made a holiday-week promise to her therapist that she would avoid posting about Trump for two days. The pledge collapsed almost immediately.
Jennifer Kopetic, a longtime friend, didn’t hide her frustration. “Roseann, you’ve got to detach. You’ve got to disconnect,” she told O’Donnell during a visit, calling her fixation draining.
O’Donnell tried again — this time publicly — telling her 1.2 million Instagram followers she was “gonna try again to not give him a minute of me.” The streak didn’t last.
Her political anxiety dates back to Trump’s first election. “I felt on the verge of crying … when he got elected,” she told an Irish TV audience earlier this year. The fear intensified over time, she said, fueled by concerns about LGBTQ protections and federal support programs.
O’Donnell, a lesbian mother of five, has spoken particularly about worrying for her youngest child, Clay, who is 12, identifies as nonbinary, and has been diagnosed with autism.
During Trump’s first term, O’Donnell poured her anger into hundreds of digital portraits, each one skewering him with labels like “Moron,” “Loser,” and “Liar.” She later concluded that the emotional toll of the political climate — and her response to it — left her with one option: leave.
Her brother Eddie, who is helping her apply for Irish citizenship, supports the decision wholeheartedly, calling it “the best decision she’s made … honestly.”
But even abroad, the tension has seeped into her home life. O’Donnell recounted on The Jim Acosta Show how her daughter vented frustration over the move and the political battles that pushed them overseas.
“My daughter is now saying, ‘Damn him. Damn Trump,’” she said, explaining how the child slammed the table and yelled, “He made us move for our own safety … and now he’s destroying the country.”
O’Donnell said she struggles to balance honesty with protection. “She hears everything. She recognizes what’s going on,” she said.
After years of political sparring, O’Donnell said she hopes to pull back. “Somebody can tap me out. … I did 22 years. I don’t need to do anymore.”
The White House responded sharply to her renewed criticism. “Rosie O’Donnell clearly suffers from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome, and it’s better for the entire country that she decided to move away,” spokesperson Abigail Jackson said this week.
O’Donnell has said she left the U.S. partly because she feared Trump would strip her citizenship. She later announced plans to pursue Irish citizenship, citing her grandparents’ ties to the country and her desire for space from American politics.
