Rosie O’Donnell Tried to ‘Disconnect’ from Social Media Because of Donald Trump — but It Only Lasted a Few Hours

Rosie O’Donnell tried to give herself a break from thinking about Donald Trump — but unplugging didn’t last very long.

In a new interview with The Washington Post, the 63-year-old comedian and actress spoke about her long-running animosity toward Trump, 79, and how a recent attempt to cleanse her social media of all things related to the president quickly fell apart.

She recalled telling her therapist on Wednesday, Nov. 26, that she would stop posting about Trump online for two days. The vow, however, only survived a few hours before she was back on social media.

Jeanne Kopetic, O’Donnell’s friend since seventh grade, has been urging her to emotionally step back from the conflict. During a trip to Ireland — where O’Donnell now lives — Kopetic told her, “Roseann, you’ve got to detach. You’ve got to disconnect,” according to the Post.

A couple of days later, on Friday, Nov. 28, O’Donnell again promised herself she would stay off social media and avoid posting about Trump for three days. That effort, too, was short-lived.

O’Donnell and Trump have clashed publicly for nearly 20 years.

Their feud dates back to 2006, when O’Donnell criticized Trump on The View. At the time, she called him out over his handling of the controversy surrounding Miss USA winner Tara Conner, who had been accused of underage drinking and cocaine use. O’Donnell took issue with both the scandal and Trump’s response to it.

O’Donnell has said that the “bullying” she endured — particularly from Trump — took a serious emotional toll.

“Probably the Trump stuff was the most bullying I ever experienced in my life, including as a child,” she said. “It was national, and it was sanctioned societally. Whether I deserved it is up to your own interpretation.”

Over the years, most of the hostility between O’Donnell and Trump has played out on social media, and the feud has only escalated in the last decade, through both of Trump’s presidencies.

After Trump’s second inauguration in January, O’Donnell said in a TikTok video that she had left the United States for Ireland. She explained that she and her child, Clay, would think about returning when “it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America.”

Trump has previously claimed he was “giving serious consideration” to revoking O’Donnell’s U.S. citizenship and called her “a threat to humanity.” O’Donnell fired back, saying, “You want to revoke my citizenship? Go ahead and try, King Joffrey with a tangerine spray tan. I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”

O’Donnell’s brother, Eddie O’Donnell, told the Post that her move to Ireland was “the best decision she’s made, I think, in her life, honestly.”

Kopetic agreed, noting that life for O’Donnell is noticeably calmer now. “She used to go from the car to the house quickly. She was barricaded by security gates here in the States. Now she kind of comfortably just settles herself among the people,” Kopetic said.