SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for “Outlook Good,” Season 3, Episode 1 of “And Just Like That,” now streaming on HBO Max.
And just like that, Rosie O’Donnell has made a splashy return to comedy.
On the season premiere of “And Just Like That,” O’Donnell plays Mary, a woman visiting New York from out of town whom Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) picks up at a bar, expecting never to see again. Mary and Miranda share a night together at Mary’s hotel, but Mary lingers, having caught feelings for an understandable reason: She had been a virgin before meeting Miranda. At home, in Winnipeg, Mary is a nun, and sexuality has been a closed-off part of her life. She continues to push for Miranda to join her in various tourist-trap activities, and the pair finally reunite in Times Square, where Mary, a “Wicked” superfan, sings a bit of “For Good” to thank Miranda for showing her what she really needed.
It’s a juicy role, one of the “Sex and the City” franchise’s classic one-night stands, played by a comic actor who knows the territory. O’Donnell came out as a lesbian in 2002, as her daily talk show, “The Rosie O’Donnell Show,” was winding down. O’Donnell is in a reflective mode ahead of performing in a one-woman show based on her life at this summer’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She hopes to tour the production, but for now, the Scottish city is a short trip from her current home in Ireland, where she moved as a response to Donald Trump’s second-term presidency.
O’Donnell spoke to Variety about diving into the “Sex and the City” universe, what she’s learned about herself while raising a nonbinary tween and how Ireland suits her so far.
How are you?
I have questions about your siblings’ names.
My siblings’ names?
Are they all “D”s, like you?
No, I’m the lucky one. My siblings are named Jane and Emily.
I kept thinking: Deirdre D’Addario, Danielle D’Addario…
Anyway, I presume it was Michael Patrick King who approached you for the role.
It was Cynthia. I’m good friends with Cynthia Nixon, and my daughter was actually her assistant on set for the last season of “Sex and” — of “And Just Like That.” I call it “Sex and the City 2,” but that’s not it. She put her on there, and then she said, “By the way, Michael told me that he has a role for you. Are you up for it?” I said, “Are you kidding me? In a minute!” I didn’t even have to think about it.
I’ve known Michael Patrick King for probably over 30 years. When I was a young comedian, he was in a comedy duo called King and Mindy — Lisa Mindy and Michael King. I used to hang out with them at Catch a Rising Star and at the Improv. It’s been pretty amazing to see the people that began together doing so well.
Mary certainly has her quirks — how did it feel knowing that this was the character that had been written for you, once you read it?
I laughed my ass off. I thought — I know how to play this character. I was very, very happy to be doing all my scenes with Cynthia. It was not acting for me. I don’t have to act in love with her, because I’ve been in love with her for many years. I saw her in “Wit,” on Broadway, and even though I had known her for very many years and was friends with her in a real way, when I went backstage, I was awestruck and couldn’t find my words.
Have you known people like Mary who are isolated from their sexuality, even as they get older?
100%. I know many women who only come to it in their 40s, and how hard it is when they set up a life with a man and children, and then they come to realize this basic thing about themselves. I understand their struggle. It was a relatable character — somebody who, for all different reasons, wasn’t able to be in touch with who they were, and then came to find the beauty that awaits the rest of her life.
It’s kind of the comedy version of Miranda’s later-in-life coming-out.
Yeah! There has to be humor — it saves us in life from very emotionally distressing times. Comedy saves us all in the end. You do laugh at her being overly excited about seeing “Wicked” for the 14th time. That was not hard to play for me. Because all of my big emotional moments can be found in the musicals of my lifetime.
Having grown up with your talk show, on which you enthused about Broadway, and now seeing you sing a few bars from “Wicked” on “And Just Like That” — it was a full-circle moment.
I just recently talked to a three-time Tony Award-winning producer from London who wants to help me get my one-woman show that I’m doing in Edinburgh to tour, and to maybe go to the West End. And, hopefully when the politics are more sane, back to Broadway, which would be my dream, to do a one-woman show on Broadway. He told me that he grew up a gay kid in Texas, and the only exposure he had to Broadway was my show. When he saw it over and over again, he knew that’s what he wanted his life to be. Now he’s a Tony Award-winning producer.
I never mind when people in their 30s or 40s come over to me and say “You really made a profound impact on my life.” It lets me know that there was a bigger purpose for what I was doing.
“Sex and the City” was a zeitgeist show at the same moment as your talk show. Did it ever cross your mind that you would be a part of this universe?
No, because “Sex and the City” was such a girl-, woman-focused show in a way that I don’t possess. You see these girls who have long hair and know how to whip it up into a bun; I lack that gene. There’s girls who know how to dress themselves to look appropriate for their body shape, and I was never that girl. I put on boys’ clothes. I rode a motorcycle. I was definitely a little gay girl.
I have a little one who is nonbinary — 12 years old — and it was the most interesting thing. They said to me, “Mommy, I’m nonbinary. I’m not a boy and I’m not a girl.” I said, “OK, fantastic.” They go, “My pronouns are they/them, and I’d like them respected.” I will do my very best, right? Who are they, Harvey Milk reincarnated?
And then they said, “Are you nonbinary?” And I said, “Well, you know what, honey, I’m an O.G. lesbian. I’m a girl who knew I was a girl, who liked being a girl, but didn’t feel like a real girl. But I never wanted to be a boy. I never thought about boys. I was only always thinking about girls.” And then they said, “What did your class say when you told them?”
It’s a whole new world.
Can you imagine? They have no understanding of what it was like when I was 10 in 1972 and nobody mentioned it. The word was not said — you would never admit it. You’d go to church and hear horrible things about people like you, and Billie Jean [King] and Martina [Navratilova] had to disclaim their lesbianism and pretend they were not gay in order to continue working on the tennis circuit, and that was so painful for me when I was a 10-year-old. They didn’t understand. I’ve been trying to explain to them what it was like when I was a kid, and they are stunned.
I think back to you as a celebrity in the 1990s — a much different time than today in terms of gay rights — and now you on “And Just Like That,” proudly rocking your loose-fitting “Wicked” T-shirt. I imagine the latter is more comfortable.
It was really a strange time to be out of the closet to everyone in show business who knew me personally — and in my life, everyone knew and I had children. Once you have children, you’re out! Because you go with your partner to the school meetings. I was out to everyone except the public. And I often thought it was surprising that when I did come out, people were surprised. “Well, you like Tom Cruise.” I didn’t want him naked in my bed! I wanted him to mow my lawn and give me a lemonade. How many times do I have to say that?
I was delighted to see you pop up on “Hacks” recently as well, playing yourself. Any other comedies you’re thinking about joining?
I was supposed to do, right before I left, an episode of “Poker Face.” I’m hoping that I’ll be able to do that, although I don’t know — with the current political climate, when would it be safe to come back with my child? I’m not going to push it before this administration is completely finished, and hopefully held accountable for their crimes.
How does living in Ireland suit you? Has it been a positive change?
Never, for one moment since I arrived here, did I regret my choice. People have been so welcoming, so accepting, and they have a different view of celebrity in the culture here. They are not prioritized over other people. People are much more friendly and intimate with each other in a real way. Every time I go into the pharmacy, I fall in love, because the pharmacist talks to you. Have you ever spoken to a pharmacist at CVS?
Not really.
I call my friends every time, going, “I think the pharmacist has a crush on me.” But it’s a beautiful way of life. The smallness of this nation fits me very well.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Read the full article here
