Rosie O’Donnell went to permanent lengths to remember her nonbinary child’s pronouns, only to slip up while explaining the tattoo.
The comedian, 64, revealed on Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast Tuesday that she had the word “they” tattooed on her left wrist in the handwriting of her 13-year-old child, Clay, who uses they/them pronouns.
O’Donnell admitted she struggled to adjust after Clay, formerly known as Dakota, came out as nonbinary in 2024.
“I tried my best, but I kept saying ‘she,’” O’Donnell said. Clay eventually wrote “they” on a piece of cardboard and would hold it up whenever their mom made a mistake.
O’Donnell took the handwritten reminder to a tattoo shop and had it permanently inked on her wrist.
“I thought she’d be very touched,” O’Donnell said, before immediately realizing her mistake. “I just [said she] again in the ‘they’ story! I messed it up!”
O’Donnell adopted Clay in 2013, shortly after they were born, alongside her then-wife Michelle Rounds. Clay was diagnosed with autism at two years old
In a 2024 interview with NBC Chicago, O’Donnell recalled Clay explaining the distinction between sex and gender, telling her that while sex can be binary, “gender is infinite.”
O’Donnell has said motherhood has been central to her life, telling People in July that “all I wanted my whole life was to have a bunch of kids.”
She pushed back on the idea that she “saved” her adopted children, saying instead, “Those kids saved me.”
O’Donnell is also the mother of four adult children, Parker, Chelsea, Blake and Vivienne.
O’Donnell returned to the stage in New York for a 12-performance run of her one-woman show, Rosie O’Donnell: Common Knowledge, at the Daryl Roth Theater. The show explores her experiences with motherhood and losing her own mother at a young age.
