An episode with ...
Rosie O’Donnell has some outrageous scenes in Showtime’s comedy SMILF, says Michele Manelis
You were a TV host and now you’re starring in an upcoming sitcom, SMILF. What are the major differences? It’s very different. When I started my career, I never wanted to be a host. I always wanted to be an actress, a Broadway performer, and I started kind of backwards. I did stand-up and I did a few failed sitcoms and then I had three number one movies in a row [League of Their Own, Sleepless in Seattle, The Flintstones]. It was very, very strange for a young, chubby comedian, right? I like your long grey hair – how do your kids feel about it? I wanted to do my hair grey because it’s mostly grey when it comes in on its own. For a long time my children were adamantly opposed to it. In fact my daughter, who is 14 and a freshman in high school, said to me, “do not come to my volleyball games! You look so embarrassing to me. First of all, your hair is too long, and second of all, it’s grey! You look like a grandmother and I am new in this school and I don’t want to deal with this.” So my children are not very fond of it. You’ve had a long history with President Trump Can you say that easily? Does that word [president] come right out of your mouth? It usually sticks right here (points to her throat). How is your relationship going? Are you in agreement with anything at all that he says? No. I don’t think that is ever going to happen. If you grew up in New York, as I did my whole life, you really are not confused about who Donald Trump is. You were there through all the ridiculousness of his failed airlines and his failed vodka and his fake university, and he would come on talk shows, and he would just lie. He would say, “I’ve got the number one book!” It was not the number one book. How do you feel when you watch him giving speeches? It’s almost like watching Being There, the film with Peter Sellers. He bumbles his way through and everyone is just pretending not to notice. I think Trump has narcissistic personality disorder. Ultimately, he is likely to get himself in trouble. His hubris is going to ruin everyone that he claims to love: his daughter, his prized possession, her husband and his two sons will most probably be in prison, as will he. And that is the reality that we are coming to, and what he will do to prevent that from happening I think should terrify everyone in the world. Talking about predatory, chubby men, what’s your take on the Weinstein scandal? Everyone who is in Hollywood knew that story. I know many actresses who have told stories like Ashley Judd has told, and I believe Ashley Judd and I believe every woman who’s saying what happened to them happened to them. I don’t think women like to come out and admit that this happened or that they were somehow the victim of a predator like Bill Cosby. I believe those women as well. You have some pretty outrageous scenes in SMILF. How comfortable were you doing the masturbation scene? I also have a sex scene in a dental chair after this interview! We’ll see how that goes. I talked to my therapist and I have an extra Xanax in my pocket, so I’m ready. About the other scene, I’m 55. I was not like, “woo-hoo, can I do a masturbation scene?” It’ll be interesting to see what my children think of the show. You are one of the first women to come out. How tough was that for you to carry that mantle? I was raised in a non-gender-specific home because my mother had died and my father wasn’t really present and there were five children and there were things that needed to be done and the house had to run. And so everyone did everything. So if I was better at some things I would do them, and my brother, Eddie, cooked for all of us and I did the non-traditional female stuff. I never thought of myself as breaking ground. I am very moved now when people come over to me and say, “I am gay and I would watch you and that made me feel better”, or “I suffer from depression and my mother died and I saw you talk”. I was a comic, a girl in a man’s field since I was 17, and I felt like I just rode the waves that I caught. Your kids are getting older. In what way have you surprised yourself as a mother? It’s funny. You find yourself being sexist in a way that you never imagined you would be. When you have a son, you have to worry about one penis. When you have a daughter, you have to worry about every penis. That’s what I’ve learned.