Rosie O’Donnell Reveals The Staggering Amount Of Money That Made Her Leave Her Show
Image: Photos: Kip Carroll
Rosie O’Donnell has revealed the big financial reason that made her walk away from her hit TV show over 20 years ago.
Despite being offered a ridiculous amount of money to continue her top rated talk show the star walked away instead.
All because of how much money she had sitting in the bank.
Why Rosie O’Donnell walked away from television
In 2002 Rosie O’Donnell was arguably at the top of her career, with six successful years hosting The Rosie O’Donnell show fans couldn’t get enough of the star.
However in a shock move, after being asked by executives to continue for two more seasons O’Donnell chose to walk away from the program, just months after she had come out as gay during a stand up comedy session.
In an interview with Page Six she revealed that that upon checking her finances she realised she had a cool $US100 million sitting in her bank account.
“When I heard that [number], I thought, ‘OK, now I’m done,” she told the publication. “And everyone was like, ‘Why are you leaving?’”
Rosie was offered a further $100 million to continue with the show, which she promptly turned down, shocking everyone in the industry.
“They were like, ‘Why would you say no?’” she says, “and I was like, ‘Because I already have that money and if I think I need more, something’s wrong with me.’”
She says she realised she “had enough money to take care of everyone in my life, philanthropy and strangers” and simply wanted to spend time with her family.
In the years since O’Donnell has raised her five children whilst juggling other smaller television appearances, including two stints co-hosting The View and several acting roles on shows such as The Fosters, Queer As Folk, The L Word: Generation Q, Russian Doll and most recently And Just Like That.
In 2024 O’Donnell and her family moved to Ireland and 2025 marking her latest return to stand up comedy, touring her show Common Knowledge internationally.
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