Actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell said President Donald Trump’s first term took a severe toll on her mental and physical health, leading her to overeat, overdrink, and leave the United States for Ireland for “self-preservation” following his November election win.
In an appearance Tuesday on The Chris Cuomo Project podcast, O’Donnell revealed that Trump’s presidency, particularly his second election victory, drove her to leave the country for her own well-being and for her autistic, nonbinary child.
“I was very, very depressed. I was overeating. I was overdrinking,” O’Donnell told Cuomo. “It hurt my heart that America believed the lies about him. And then it broke my heart to be in a business that creates and sells those lies for profit.”
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While many celebrities threatened to leave the country over Trump, O’Donnell said she wasn’t one of them, until she realized staying could endanger her mental health.
“I really felt this was self-preservation,” she said.
O’Donnell said she chose Ireland because of its more grounded approach to fame.
“When I got here, I noticed right away there was a different culture about celebrity. They’re not lauded in Ireland. They’re not thought of as better than anyone else,” she said.
“Coming home here felt like coming home,” she continued, noting how her child told her, “Mommy, you can be a normal person here.”
The actress also described how political tension in the U.S. had reached a personal level, including being mocked and cursed at after Trump’s win.
“People in CVS saying to me and my autistic 12-year-old, ‘Hey, Rosie, Trump won. Ha ha.’ One cursed at us,” she recalled.
O’Donnell, who famously feuded with Trump for years, said life in Ireland has given her the peace and anonymity she needed to heal.
She described older Irish men buying her pints of Guinness and saying, “Is it true you came here because you hate Donald Trump?” — to which she responded, “Yes, sir, it is.”
“I find myself feeling safe,” she said. “There’s no MAGA support here.”
The move, she emphasized, was about creating a better environment, both for herself and her child.
“To be a good parent to this 12-year-old child that I’ve got to be around for 20 more years, I need to take care of myself,” she said.
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Cuomo, acknowledging O’Donnell’s public emotional struggles during Trump’s presidency, praised her for continuing to feel and empathize deeply, even at a cost.
“There’s a price,” he said. “And you took on a very public and profound battle.”
