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CNN AMERICAN MORNING WITH PAULA ZAHN
Interview With Rosie O'Donnell
Aired October 8, 2002 - 07:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Rosie O'Donnell is taking off the kid gloves. The former talk show host now faces a huge lawsuit brought by her former magazine publisher.
Gruner + Jahr says O'Donnell breached her contract when she quit "Rosie" magazine last month. O'Donnell says she will fight back.
But how is this lawsuit affecting her, her partner, Kelli Carpenter, who is expecting their fourth child, and their family?
In the final part of my interview with O'Donnell we first brought you yesterday, she shares the personal side of her challenge. Here is some of what she had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN (on camera): How are you these days?
ROSIE O'DONNELL, FORMER TALK SHOW HOST: I'm good, actually, believe it or not..
ZAHN: You're good?
O'DONNELL: You know, it's stunning, but I'm happier than I've been in a long time. I am very, very happy and peaceful and, believe it or not, unafraid.
ZAHN: Obviously, you've had to think about what this lawsuit could not only cost you financially, but commercially, if you plan to go do a show again or whatever the heck you plan to do.
O'DONNELL: Yes, it's interesting, because, you know, I never really did think of that.
You know -- I mean, I am producing Boy George's new musical, "Taboo," and I'm producing it with my own money. And we're opening in April here in New York, and it's costing me a big chunk of change, not as much as $300 million. But you know, when this happened, some people from London called and said, "Are you still going to be able to it?" I said, 'Oh, yes.'
I'm definitely -- I'm just going to do everything that I was planning to do. This is not real, what they're doing. There's no validity. There's no truth in it. I'm not afraid of that, because, you know, what has happened as a result of this lawsuit is garbage guys on the street, "Go get them, Rosie!" An Arab man at the Four Seasons, "You're very brave, I'm very proud of you." You know, a little, black girl comes up to me, 16 years old, "Girl, you ain't afraid of nothing."
You know what it is? It's saying, guess what everybody? We may have forgotten that integrity is the most important thing that you own on life. We might have forgotten that in order to receive, one needs to give. We might have all forgotten that. But don't ever let fear rule your decisions.
ZAHN: Do you stand to lose everything in this suit?
O'DONNELL: Theoretically, I could yes. But will I? No, because I know that I'm telling the truth, and I believe that the truth will be served in court.
And if a judge says, well, you're morally right, but legally you're wrong, because they put in this tricky clause and you got duped, honey, you owe them $300 million, and I'll say, OK. And I'll go and get another job on a talk show, or I'll go be a morning disc jockey, or I'll tell my kids, you know what? Mommy has to work again. I know it's better when mommy has no job. I was so lucky I got to have no job for like a year, but now, I've got to have a job again. And they'll be like, all right.
ZAHN: What impact has all of this had on your family?
O'DONNELL: It's had more on Kelli than it has on me. She's pregnant, and I'm concerned about the stress level.
ZAHN: Do your kids have any idea of what's going on?
O'DONNELL: Yes, like my kids will say -- here's the greatest thing. Like I was at Target getting school supplies, and Parker goes, "Mommy, are you 300 lbs.?" And I go, 'What?' He goes, "300 lbs." See, he can read now and not really great timing for me. But I said, 'OK, I don't know, honey, that means pounds, and here's what that is. When the magazines are by the -- the newspapers are by the cash register, it means they take a little bit of truth and a lot of lies. So the truth is, mommy is 200 lbs. Most women are 100 lbs. Some people think no woman should be 200, and that everybody, no one should be 300. But everybody is a different size. Some people are thin, some people are fat, some people are short, but that's just it.' He goes, "all right."
Then he says last week or two weeks ago, "Mommy, is our family breaking up?"
ZAHN: Oh.
O'DONNELL: I said, 'What?' He said, "That says Rosie is losing her family, and we are your family." And I said, 'Well, you know what, buddy? This time, it's only lies.'
I have the most amazing family, I have the most amazing siblings, and I have an astounding amount of friends. I have everything I need.
(END VIDEOTAPE) ZAHN: And she says she's going to fight this lawsuit, in fact, plans to file a countersuit, Bill, and she said she is not interested in any kind of settlement. However, if there is a settlement, she said all that money will go back to her foundation.
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