Metro Weekly

Howard Stern interview with Rosie O’Donnell [video]

“You can count of two hands how many people I’ve been with…. I was one of those late bloomers. I had sex for the first time when I was 21… with a guy. When I was 28 to 30, I lived with a guy for two years….

“As a young kid, I was sexually abused…. I think in some way it may play a part, but I think it’s a spectrum — sexuality, you know — from 0 to 100, everyone falls somewhere in the middle. Whether it’s your genetics, based on your history. You know, I know many, many people who had the same exact situation as I did as a kid who didn’t turn gay….

“When I started my TV show, I told Warner Bros. and all the networks that I was gay, and I didn’t imagine coming out, because it didn’t seem like such a big issue to me. But I wanted them to know, and they were like, ‘No, it’s fine.’ When I went on the air, there was no Perez Hilton. There was no 24-hour internet. There was no TMZ. Nobody asked anyone if they were gay….

“[Losing $10 million on the play with Boy George] would have bothered me more if I lost other people’s money…. This is a troubled guy with a serious drug addiction. And an immense amount of talent…. I think [the failure of the show] was a combination of that and me being sued at the time, and it was on the front of the Post every day, you know, ”Rosie the anti-Christ.” It’s not a great way to sell tickets….

“[Watch porn?] Of course. Not with my children. But sometimes I will with my spouse…. Not a lot of women in it…. [I look at them] and I’m like, ‘Oh, geez! What happened to her? What is she doing? She probably has two kids at home….’ If you’re gonna watch the porno, the [gay] male — men porno stars, you can visually see that they’re enjoying themselves….

“It’s only men think that [women should shave]. Because, when women, lesbians, see other women without hair down there, they think of pre-pubescent girls… I don’t know any lesbians who do….

“[President Bush] said, in the middle of a war, he needs to have a press conference. And all the TV stops, and we’re sitting there, and I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, what’s happened? We lost our platoon or something there.’ And he’s like, ‘I just want to say that — what’s going on in San Francisco is ruining the moral fiber of the country.’ And I was so fucking mad! I was like, ‘You know what, Kelly. Let’s get on a plane and get married….”

Rosie O’Donnell mostly joking around on the Howard Stern Show, to promote her upcoming appearances at some performances of Cyndi Lauper’s ”True Colors Tour 2008” (in DC on Saturday, June 7). During their hour-long chat, the two comics also discussed in-depth her experience with ”The View” and its many hosts; her own talk show and magazine lawsuit; her crushes on Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie, Angela Bassett, Matthew McConaughey, Mariska Hartigay and her wife, Kelli; Madonna, Britney and Lindsay; and her admiration of Barbra Streisand; her Gay Cruise, Danny Noriega and the comic Ant; WTC Building 7’s suspicious collapse; and lots more.
(The Howard Stern Show)
(YouTube audio from OnTheSternShow.com)

Support Metro Weekly’s Journalism

These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!