Despite rumors of conflict off camera at The View, Rosie O'Donnell's farewell episode taped on Thursday was an upbeat lovefest.
Despite rumors of conflict off camera at The View, Rosie O'Donnell's farewell episode taped on Thursday was an upbeat lovefest.
Rosie made her entrance to Flo Rida's "Low," dancing for an audience that chanted her name.
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"Now see, if that was every day I would have stayed," Rosie joked. But then she got serious and expressed her gratitude for having a second opportunity to express her opinion on the daytime talk show.
"I just want to say thank you to all the cast and mostly to Barbara Walters," Rosie said, holding her two-year-old daughter Dakota. "I want to thank her for making the show and letting me be on it twice. We've had fun and I hope we're going to have more. I'll come back and do an occasional crafting segment because I have a hot glue gun and I will travel. Thank you, it's been really fun."
The funny lady is saying goodbye to The View for the second time after returning for a 5-month stint. Naming stress following a split from her wife of three years as one of the major reasons for leaving, the comedian posted a YouTube video on Feb. 9 in which she spoke directly to her fans about her difficult decision.
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"Stress is very bad for heart attack survivors," said Rosie, who suffered a heart attack two years ago. "You should minimize your stress, maximize your exercise and control your diet. That's what you need to do for a healthy heart. So that's what I'm
doing. I'm minimizing my stress by leaving The View."
In the same video, the 52-year-old entertainer also elaborated on troubles at home with her estranged wife, Michelle Rounds, whom she split with in November. "It's hard. Marriage is complicated. I've got five kids; four of them are teenagers," she said. "There's lots of stuff going on at home and lots of stuff going on at work. The only thing I can really control is the work, by leaving. I can turn that volume down to zero."
According to Variety's Ramin Setoodeh, ABC was happy to comply with Rosie's request to be released from her contract.
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"Staffers that work on The View told us that she was very quiet in meetings -- not as engaged as she may have been -- and she has specific ideas and when her ideas weren't executed she felt frustrated," Ramin tells ET.
Rosie seems relieved to leave the frustration and stress behind as she heads home to take care of her family. She posted this adorable Instagram of her daughter following the taping.