ROSIE'S OUT: It was announced yesterday that Rosie O'Donnell has decided to walk away from her self-titled magazine, which will be shut down after the completion of its December issue. This marks the latest bit of offbeat news to come from Rosie this year- first she quit her long-running talk show, then came out of the closet and became a political activist on gay issues, and also did a series of stand-up gigs in which she moved far away from her "queen of nice" image and ventured into extreme ribaldry.
I went on record years ago as someone who loathed Rosie O'Donnell and everything about her. I hated her movies, hated her talk show, and experienced what felt like severe migraines every time I heard the sound of her voice. But it shames me to say that I've almost taken a liking to the "New Rosie." I find her activism on behalf of gay rights and adoption very admirable, and she greatly impressed me in her recent interview by Bill O'Reilly- perhaps doing a better job of handling Mr. Factor than anyone else in the history of his show.
But I think most of all, I disliked the Old Rosie because she was so artificial- she was pretending to be nicer than she is, and she was pretending not to be gay, and now that she's being "herself" more, I find it much easier to have respect for her. Whether the folding of Rosie Magazine marks the end of O'Donnell's career as a public figure remains to be seen, but -I never thought I'd say this- she can now count me as a fan.