Rosie O’Donnell’s New Tattoo Backlash, Explained

Martin HolmesThu, August 13, 2026 at 1:42 PM UTC

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Rosie O'Donnell - Good Hang with Amy Poehler YouTube

Rosie O’Donnell went the extra mile to try to adapt to her nonbinary child’s pronouns, though she continues to struggle to remember despite having a reminder inked on her skin.

The former View co-host appeared on the latest episode of Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast, where she revealed she had the word “they” tattooed on her left wrist in the handwriting of her 13-year-old kid, Clay, who uses they/them pronouns.

“It’s very hard, honey,” O’Donnell admitted when asked about being conscious of using the correct pronouns after Clay, formerly known as Dakota, came out as nonbinary in 2024.

Poehler said that she loves that O’Donnell is “constantly correcting herself in real time,” highlighting how it shows how the comedian cares.

“It really matters to them, and I know it matters to them,” the A League of Their Own star stated. “And so when they first told me that it was they/them, I tried my best, but I kept saying ‘she.'”

O’Donnell revealed that Clay wrote “they” on a piece of cardboard and started to hold it up above their head any time she made a mistake. “Like John Cusack in Say Anything with the boombox, just staring at me.”

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This inspired O’Donnell to take the piece of cardboard to a tattoo parlor and get the word “they” tattooed on her wrist. “So I would never forget, it would remind me,” she explained. Despite the loving gesture, Clay didn’t seem to care one way or another.

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“I thought she’d be very touched… she didn’t give two s***s. She could not care less,” O’Donnell recalled before realizing she’d screwed up again. “And I just said ‘she’ again… in the ‘they’ story! I messed it up.”

O’Donnell adopted Clay in 2013 while married to her second wife, Michelle Rounds, who died by suicide in 2017. The multi-time Daytime Emmy winner also has four other adopted children: Parker (31), Chelsea (28), Blake (26), and Vivienne (23), from her first marriage to Kelli Carpenter.

Following Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January 2025, O’Donnell moved from the United States to Ireland with Clay. “When it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America, that’s when we will consider coming back,” she told her TikTok followers last year.

O’Donnell recently completed a short run of her one-woman show, Common Knowledge, in New York City. Starting next week, Monday, August 17, she will be guest-hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live!

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”