Rosie O’Donnell left the U.S. in January 2025 after President Trump was elected to a second term. She cited his reelection as the main reason. She relocated to Ireland with her youngest child, Clay. Her four other children remained in the U.S. So, when The View‘s Whoopi Goldberg attended an event recently, her former co-host was the last person she expected to run into. Keep reading for all the details on the surprise reunion.
Former The View Host Returns To U.S. After Move Overseas
Rosie O’Donnell is in the process of obtaining citizenship in Ireland. She plans to keep her U.S. citizenship, becoming a dual citizen in each country. The comedian can still return to the States any time she wants. She made a rare public appearance at the 2026 Tony Awards over the weekend. It was her first public appearance since revealing in May that she had secretly had a facelift against her child’s wishes. She walked the red carpet at the Tonys and gave multiple interviews about the facelift and the current political climate.
She told E! News that she doesn’t plan to get more plastic surgery. “I wanted to be truthful and say all the complicated emotions I had about it. I just felt it was better to be truthful than not and I didn’t want some tabloid to go, ‘Gotcha!’” she said about why she went public with the cosmetic surgery.
Whoopi Goldberg Spills On Unexpected Reunion With Former Co-Host
While she was in NYC, Rosie O’Donnell took in a Broadway show. She attended the critically-acclaimed CATS: The Jellicle Ball, a reimagining of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s classic musical.
The View moderator Whoopi Goldberg attended the same show. She told her shocked co-hosts all about the reunion on Wednesday’s episode. “I made another trip to The Jellicle Ball last night. And look who I ran into!” she said as a photo of the former co-hosts popped up on the screen.
“I thought she was in Ireland?” Sunny Hostin asked. Whoopi Goldberg explained that Rosie O’Donnell is back in the States for several projects. “She came back. She has a one-woman show she’s doing, too. She’s got all kinds of great stuff going on, but she looked amazing.”
Rosie O’Donnell joked on the red carpet at the Tonys that the paps swarmed her at the airport for the first time in decades to get a look at her facelift.
Whoopi Goldberg replaced Rosie O’Donnell as moderator in 2007 after she left following an on-air blowup with Elisabeth Hasselbeck. But the two worked together when Rosie briefly returned in 2014 after Elizabeth left. So, while her relationship with Elisabeth is still tense today, Rosie O’Donnell and Whoopi Goldberg are clearly on good terms. Share your reaction to the unexpected reunion in the comments.
Jennifer Havener grew up in a small town in Upstate New York. She earned her B.A in Writing & Literature from Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. She always knew watching reality TV shows and soap operas, particularly ‘Days of Our Lives’, would come in handy someday. When she’s not writing, she’s playing with her dogs, Lola and Ruger
