Rosie O'Donnell's Daughter Claims Star Lied About Her Running Away From Home; Says She Was Kicked Out

It’s been roughly two months since Rosie O’Donnell enlisted the public's help in finding her daughter, Chelsea O’Donnell, whom she claimed had run away from home and was in need of medical attention for an undisclosed mental illness. Now, Chelsea is speaking out about her mother’s claims, saying they’re categorically untrue.

As previously reported, the former “The View” star put out a social media blast Aug. 18 seeking the location of her daughter. Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, the 18-year-old wholeheartedly denied the idea that was spread online by her adoptive mother that she had run away from home. According to Chelsea, she’d been kicked out by O'Donnell.

Apparently, the teen was planning to move out when she turned 18. Two weeks before her birthday, Chelsea claims she was approached by Rosie and the ensuing argument prompted the 53-year-old star to kick her out of the house.

“She asked me to talk about what was going on and I didn’t want to. So she asked for my phone and my computer. This was hours before she told me to leave. I gave them to her,” she told the outlet. “A few hours later, she told me to leave. I wasn’t planning to go until I turned 18 on the 24th. Rosie said that I was almost 18, and she got all this crap from work, and she didn’t want to have to deal with that at home too.”

A week later, Rosie was posting that her daughter and her dog, Bear, were missing and that Chelsea needed medical attention for a mental illness, another claim Chelsea denies. Although she struggles with depression and anxiety, Chelsea says these issues have gotten better and that she’s no different from millions of other capable people with the same “mental illness.”

Fortunately for Rosie and the public, Chelsea was found in Barnegat Light, a town on the Jersey shore, according to Us Weekly. She was there with a friend she met on Tinder named Steve M. Sheerer. The man gained notoriety for being found with the then-17-year-old and for his prior arrests. It was later reported he was misled into thinking Chelsea was 18 at the time of the incident.

After returning home, Chelsea went to visit her birth mother in Wisconsin. She was picked up by Deanna Micoley at a friend’s house near Rosie’s New York home on her 18th birthday.