Is Everything 'Rosie'?

Apparently celebrities go through the same roller coaster ride (otherwise known as life) that we do. Or maybe we just never truly know when they’re acting. We can see pictures, read news articles, or watching them on talk shows, but do we really know when they are putting on their public persona or when we are seeing their true personalities?

For about six years, during her run as the host of “The Rosie O’Donnell Show”, Rosie O’Donnell was regarded as one of the most genuine people in the entertainment industry. She was called “The Queen of Nice” and won a total of 11 Daytime Emmy Awards, including 5 for Outstanding Talk Show Host and 6 for Outstanding Talk Show. The woman was revered in society for her charity work and her commitment to bettering the life of others. She even used her stardom as a platform to voice her concern for issues like AIDS, breast cancer, depression, and adoption. But many of the most touching moments came from when she just reminded us that even celebrities are human. Be it the tears she shed after the Columbine tragedy to her infamous interview/deabte with National Rifle Association spokesman Tom Selleck or the countless times she gave families who had experienced tragedy hope by buying them a home or a car or a vacation. Other times, it was the way she would shrink in the presence of a Tom Cruise or tear in front of Barbara Streisand. She was the kind of host that could get the viewer choked up at how touching her actions were.

But something happened when she left her show. She became a different person. She was no longer the woman who seemed to get joy out of making other people happy. She no longer seemed to be a woman who was genuinely kind. Instead, we saw someone who made us wonder if “The Queen of Nice” was just a character. Rosie became politically out-spoken, opinionated, abrasive, and controversial. Her “coming out” was not a shock to many, as the tabloids had been reporting that for months. But it was the things coming out of her mouth, not the closet (WOW, that was a bad joke) that insulted everyone. First it was the shots she took at New York’s gay press when she called them “Gay Nazis” for making it hard for her to come out. Then she criticized many celebrities for not donating financially during the aftermath of September 11^th. Yet, one of the most prolonged public embarrassments had been the legal battle over her contract with Rosie magazine. The magazine claimed that the failure and decline of its success was due to “O'Donnell's uncooperative (and allegedly rude and violent) behavior at the magazine's offices” over disagreements about content. It is even rumored that she felt so betrayed that she said, “people who lie die of cancer”.

It seemed obvious that this was a different Rosie. However, her interview on “Inside the Actor’s studio” aired this week and it offered a glimpse into a woman who had once been a press darling and then later a source of controversy. To my surprise, the interview was actually quite fascinating. I would almost say that it was inspiring, especially to anyone considering a Hollywood career. But to hear how O’Donnell dealt with the ups and downs of a career in the spotlight and to listen to her feelings about how lonely it is on the top sort of reminds you what a unique, special persona she used to be. In a sense, a viewer could see the old Rosie – the one that you just loved to watch because she was simply a good person who anyone can relate to. She sounded extremely intelligent and sounded like she might have a new perspective on life and her career. Even her advice to the audience sounded like words from a very wise woman. We knew that she had wed her partner and that she now had 4 kids (in different ways), but she came off like that person who used to make all feel like she’d be glad to go grab a beer with you.

Maybe O’Donnell is just one of those cyclical celebrities. The ones that win you over and then let you down, just to remind you later in their career why you admired them so much once before. Or maybe its just the older she gets, the more mature she grows. Either way, she definitely showed signs of the Rosie we all used to love.