Rosie O’Donnell and Jimmy Kimmel may share a common enemy in Donald Trump, but the pair have a contentious history of their own.
Ahead of hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live this week, O’Donnell, 64, revealed to Variety that said Kimmel’s offer “came out of the blue.” Kimmel, 58, has gone on the record to say he tapped O’Donnell as “a special treat for our commander in chief,” referring to O’Donnell’s long-running feud with Donald Trump.
While Kimmel and O’Donnell are now united against MAGA and the president, O’Donnell detailed their once “adversarial relationship.”
“We’ve never spoken on the phone; we’ve texted a few times. Howard Stern tried to make amends with us, so we’ve been at the same parties a few times, and I would talk to his wife,” the former host of The View said.
“But Jimmy was never a fan of mine, and it was kind of an adversarial relationship—not that I was fighting back, but I was like, ‘OK, one of the bro guys…,’” she continued.
O’Donnell did not divulge details of their alleged conflict.
But she revealed a distinctive turning point in their relationship. In 2011, Kimmel lost his uncle and former New York Police Department officer, Frank Potenza, who would often appear on his nephew’s show. “When everything happened with his uncle dying, I wrote him, and he wrote back,” O’Donnell told Variety.
Fifteen years later, Kimmel reached out to O’Donnell’s representatives with his offer to be a part of his summer rotation of guest hosts.
“So, when my publicist called and said, ‘Do you want to guest-host ‘Kimmel’ for a week?’ I said, ‘I haven’t ever even been a guest!’ And then I said, ‘If you’re positive that that’s an actual offer and he wants me to do it, then I most certainly will,’” she said.
“I was surprised, to tell you the truth, and very thankful.”
Whatever bad blood was between the two of them seems to have dissipated. While she may not have been on his late-night show, O’Donnell appeared on Kimmel’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in 2024.
In 2025, when Kimmel’s ABC series was momentarily canceled in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s death, O’Donnell passionately defended the late-night host in the name of democracy and free speech.
“This is unacceptable - f--- this fascist administration and corrupt corporate executives - bowing to the orange monster - america is no more 🥲,” she wrote on Instagram in September 2025, posting her statement alongside a picture of Kimmel.
O’Donnell has praised Kimmel for his political stance and strength against Trump since, telling Seth Meyers in July that he and Kimmel “are doing a tremendous job at alerting people through humor about the tragedy that’s occurring.”
Of her hosting gig, she told Meyers she intends to continue Kimmel’s nightly tradition of hitting the president where it hurts.
“I just want to be a good soldier for him and do what he’s been doing so well for a week so he can have a nice vacation,” she said.
She told Kara Swisher similarly in early August, saying she admires Kimmel “greatly.”
“I plan on doing whatever we can and working with the writers and his team and honoring just how brave and bold he has been,” she said.
