By Adam S. Levy and Justin Enriquez and Caitlyn Becker For Dailymail.com
03:33 16 Jun 2023, updated 03:33 16 Jun 2023
Ellen DeGeneres and wife Portia de Rossi were seen holding hands in in Santa Barbara, California on Thursday as the former talk show host was in the headlines, with Rosie O’Donnell speaking out about why she won’t forgive Ellen’s past toxic behavior toward her.
DeGeneres, 65, donned a sage green crew neck sweatshirt with denim blue jeans and brown sneakers, accessorizing with black sunglasses and a wristwatch.
The Metairie, Louisiana-born entertainer had her short blonde locks parted to the side on the overcast day in the coastal California community.
De Rossi, 50, was clad in a puffy white vest over a plaid red flannel over a white top with dark denim blue jeans.
The Horsham, Australia-born actress rounded out her ensemble with brown suede boots with brown sunglasses, and had her long blonde locks parted to the side on the daytime outing with her spouse.
O’Donnell on Thursday detailed her long time falling out with DeGeneres, as she revealed that she did not accept her a recent apology DeGeneres extended.
The 61-year-old media personality told The Hollywood Reporter that the 65-year-old former chat show host had reached out a few weeks ago to say sorry, but she had opted to reject the mea culpa.
She explained: ‘She texted me a few weeks ago checking in, seeing how I’m doing, and I asked her how she’s surviving not being on TV.
‘It’s a big transition. But we’ve had our weirdness in our relationship. I don’t know if it’s jealousy, competition or the fact that she said a mean thing about me once that really hurt my feelings.’
Last year Rosie first revealed the long time feud with Ellen on an episode of Watch What Happens Live.
Rosie revealed that sometime after that Ellen had reached out to apologize as she explained to THR: ‘She wrote, “I’m really sorry, and I don’t remember that.” I guess she saw me talk about it on Andy Cohen’s show.
‘I remembered it so well, I had T-Shirts printed and I gave them to my staff that said ‘I don’t know Rosie. We’re not friends.’
Rosie went on to explain that she isn’t willing to let her back in the circle of trust despite the two sharing a long history together.
She explained; ‘I have a picture of her holding [my then-infant son] Parker. I know her mother. I could identify her brother without her in the room. I knew her for so many years. It just felt like I don’t trust this person to be in my world.’
The drama all began when Ellen appeared on Larry King Live back in May 1998 shortly after Rosie came out as lesbian.
Ellen was asked what her thoughts were about the news and she replied: ‘I don’t know. You know, maybe she didn’t – I don’t really know Rosie that well. I mean, I’ve spoken to her, but we’re not really friends. We don’t, like – so I don’t really know and I couldn’t say what her…’
Then in September 2022, Rosie finally opened up about their rivalry.
Rosie dropped by Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen at the time and was asked why she and DeGeneres have such a frosty relationship.
Despite having a lot in common – both had successful daytime talk shows, both female comics, both openly gay – the stars never got on.
O’Donnell was more or less persona non grata on The Ellen DeGeneres Show during its long tenure but was finally asked to appear as a guest in season 19.
‘We had a little bit of a weird thing, and after my show went off the air and hers was coming on the air,’ Rosie explained to Andy.
‘Larry King was on with Ellen and he said ‘What ever happened to Rosie O’Donnell? Her show went down the tubes! She came out as a lesbian and disappeared!”
‘And Ellen said, and I’m quoting, “I don’t know Rosie. We’re not friends.”‘
At the time, Rosie was watching the interview at home with her ex-wife Kelli Carpenter.
‘I was in bed with Kelli and I said “Did I just hear that? Or was that a hallucination, auditory voice in my – ”’ she recollected. ‘And that’s what happened. And it hurt my feelings like a baby. And I never really got over it.’
Nearly more than a decade later, Rosie was finally asked to come on Ellen’s show as a guest, she revealed, but to make it ‘a little less awkward’ there was talk of bringing on someone with her.
Ultimately that idea didn’t fly but O‘Donnell seemed not to harbor ill will towards Ellen.
‘I wish her all good things in her life and that she should be well,’ she said.
The Rosie O’Donnell Show, a once very popular daytime chat series, aired from 1996 to 2002. Ellen’s talk show seemingly replaced Rosie in 2003 and went on for 19 seasons until ending in a scandal.