Rosie O'Donnell Reveals She Recently Returned to the U.S. for Secret Visit 1 Year After Moving to Ireland
- - Rosie O'Donnell Reveals She Recently Returned to the U.S. for Secret Visit 1 Year After Moving to Ireland
Colson ThayerFebruary 14, 2026 at 2:23 AM
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Rosie O'Donnell attends the West End opening night of 'Evita' on July 1, 2025.
Simon Ackerman/Getty
Rosie O'Donnell has revealed she took a secret trip back to the U.S. to visit her family
The former talk show host called in to Chris Cuomo's radio show on Feb. 13 to discuss life abroad
She says she visited the States because she "wanted to hold my children again" and that one of her adult sons is expecting his first child soon
“I don’t regret leaving at all,” she says one year after her moved to Ireland. “I think I did what I needed to do to save myself, my child and my sanity"
Rosie O’Donnell is opening up about a secret visit taken to the United States amid her time living in Ireland.
On Friday, Feb. 13, the former talk show host, 63, called into Chris Cuomo’s radio show, SiriusXM’s Cuomo Mornings, to discuss her life abroad. During the conversation, the comedian revealed she recently traveled back to the U.S.
“I was recently went home for two weeks and I did not really tell anyone. I just went to see my family,” O’Donnell says. “I wanted to see how hard it would be for me to get in and out of the country. I wanted to feel what it felt like.”
Rosie O'Donnell celebrates Christmas with her family.
Rosie O'Donnell/Instagram
The former The View host made headlines last year when she confirmed in a March 11, 2025, TikTok that she moved to Ireland on Jan. 15 with her now 13-year-old child Clay. Days later, in a follow up video, she cited her "feud" with President Donald Trump and the changes made by the current administration as a big reason why she left.Despite O’Donnell’s move, much of her family seemingly still lives in the States.“I wanted to hold my children again,” the mother of five tells Cuomo. “And I hadn’t been home in over a year. I also wanted to make sure that it was safe for me before I brought my daughter this summer, where we plan to spend the summertime off from her schooling here with my family.”
Rosie O'Donnell and her child Clay.
Rosie O'Donnell/Instagram
The A League of Their Own star also shared that one of her adult sons is having his first child, so she’s “very excited to be home.” She says she spent the last two weeks in New York and it felt “like a very different country.”
“[It’s] a very different place for me because, for a year, I haven’t been watching the news. I haven’t been watching American culture television. I’ve been in a place where celebrity worship does not exist,” she says, adding her new life has “more balance.”
“I don’t regret leaving at all,” she says. “I think I did what I needed to do to save myself, my child and my sanity.”
“The energy that I felt while in the United States… it was scary,” she adds. “There’s a feeling that something is really wrong and no one is doing anything about it.”
Despite O’Donnell’s move to Europe last year, Trump, 79, wrote he was “giving serious consideration” to revoking her U.S. citizenship in a July 12, 2025, post on social media.“Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship,” he said. “She is a Threat to Humanity, and should remain in the wonderful Country of Ireland, if they want her. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”
About an hour later, O’Donnell responded on Instagram, writing, “The president of the USA has always hated the fact that I see him for who he is — a criminal con man sexual abusing liar out to harm our nation to serve himself.”
osie O'Donnell attends the 'Burlesque: The Musical' world premiere in London on July 22, 2025.
Neil Mockford/WireImage
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“This is why I moved to Ireland,” she continued. “He is a dangerous old soulless man with dementia who lacks empathy compassion and basic humanity — I stand in direct opposition [to] all he represents - so do millions of others.”
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
