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Rosie O’Donnell says that she’s beginning to “reclaim” herself after being traumatized by President Trump using her “as a punchline” for decades.
“I am softer I think as a result of being there, of the welcome that we got [in Ireland], and as a result of me not being constantly bombarded by news about the current president,” O’Donnell told People magazine in an interview published Wednesday. The 64-year-old comedian and frequent critic of the president moved to Ireland last year because of what she described at the time as a “heartbreaking” political situation in the United States.
“It’s like a post-traumatic stress disorder for me, considering it’s been 20 years of him using me as a punchline, and so I think that has allowed me to reclaim myself, who I was before all that went down, even though it’s very strange to have supposedly the most powerful man in the world be your arch nemesis,” the former “View” co-host said.
O’Donnell and Trump have had a long-running feud dating back to 2006 that’s played out in public. The comic has called Trump a “criminal” and a “con man,” while the president has referred to O’Donnell as a “threat to humanity” and said last year that he was “seriously considering” revoking her American citizenship.
“It used to be when our president would say things about me, it would be like, whoa,” O’Donnell, who’s starring in a one-woman show in New York called “Common Knowledge,” told People.
“First of all, if you had written this as a movie, a stand-up comic makes fun of a reality show host who is a bloviating idiot and he ends up being the president, and then he doesn’t shut up about her for 20 years, it would be unbelievable — and the fact that it’s my life is very trippy,” she said.
O’Donnell also expressed excitement about filling in as a guest host for a late-night show headlined by one of Trump’s other high-profile critics: Jimmy Kimmel.
“I’m very happy that [Kimmel] asked me,” O’Donnell said of being scheduled to appear on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in mid-August.
“I admire him. I admire his tenacity and strength. I admire his conviction to speak out against this political terrorism that’s happening in our country and I stand beside him and will,” O’Donnell said of Kimmel.
“I am a very patriotic American,” she said.
“I love this country.”
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