Rosie O’Donnell has reportedly cut her daughter out of her $80 million will just days before packing up and leaving the US in protest of Donald Trump’s re-election.
The 63-year-old comedian has relocated to Ireland with her 12-year-old daughter Clay, leaving behind her four other adopted children: Parker, 29, Blake, 25, Chelsea, 27, and Vivienne, 22.
In a TikTok video posted last month, O’Donnell opened up about how the overseas move had already improved her health, stating: “I feel healthier, I’m sleeping better without the stress and anxiety over what was happening politically in the country,” referring to the U.S.
She also addressed her long-running “feud” with President Trump, adding that the changes made since his January 20 inauguration played a major role in her decision to leave.
“I knew that it would really tax me emotionally to have to do that,” she says of living in the US while the 78-year-old is in office. “So I’m very happy that we made the decision that we made.”
Now, the spotlight has shifted to the former View host's family as Daily Mail reports that O’Donnell cut Chelsea out of her estate just before the big move.
Documents allegedly show her daughter, who was adopted by O’Donnell and her ex-wife Kelli Carpenter, was removed from two separate trusts on January 6.
“Chelsea really didn’t care that Rosie wrote her out,” a source told the outlet. “I mean who wouldn’t want to have access to millions? But for Chelsea, it is not about the money, it’s about feeling wanted and loved...And that’s something she feels she has never really had from Rosie."
The source added: “Money is what allowed for Rosie to send her away to six or seven boarding schools during her lifetime. Rich people can pay someone else to raise their kids. Middle- or lower-class parents actually have to be parents, they can’t ship their kids off at the first sign of trouble.”
Chelsea has since filed a petition to legally change her last name to that of her birth mother, the publication reported.
When contacted for comment, O’Donnell’s representative pointed to a 30-stanza poem the former View host posted to Substack on April 6, titled simply "My child Chelsea" - written entirely in lowercase.
In the poem, O’Donnell reflects on her daughter and their complicated past. “I am here for her - she’s not here for me / a wise woman once said,” one stanza reads.
O’Donnell penned that her daughter had called her the same day to share she had finally received her high school diploma - ten years after originally expected - prompting an emotional reaction.
“im proud of her / living her truth / I respect her desires / her struggles her success,” she wrote.
The 27-year-old, whose full name is Chelsea Belle O’Donnell, has had a rocky mother-daughter relationship with O'Donnell for years, with multiple periods of estrangement.
In 2015, the Daytime Emmy Awards winner reported that Chelsea had gone missing from their New York home. She was later found and relocated to Wisconsin to live with her birth mother, Deanna Micoley.
“Chelsea, like millions of people, lives with mental illness,” a representative told People at the time. “It has been a difficult road for Chelsea and her family, and they just want her back safe.”
The rep added: “Chelsea made a decision when she turned 18 that she wanted to go to her birth mother. This was her choice.”
However, two years later, in 2017, Chelsea claimed that she had actually been kicked out of the house. She also alleged that O’Donnell once threatened her with a wine bottle over a tattoo.
O’Donnell responded by saying Chelsea had endured a “tough road,” adding, “Chelsea is mentally ill. Has been in and out of hospitals most of her life. She is very sick. She is not capable of truth or reason.”
Despite the deeply strained history, O’Donnell said in 2018 that their relationship was improving. “When somebody does something unforgivable to you and you can forgive them and they can forgive you, there’s a kind of grace that descends upon the both of you, within that,” she said at the time, cited by The Independent.