Rosie O'Donnell's Natural Gray Hair Is a Blessing and a Curse

-I´m so happy to have you here!
-I´m so happy to be here. It´s like déjà vu.
-It is déjà vu. But of course, we were talking --
you know, sets are completely different.
Does this even feel like your old studio?
-Not one bit. -Yeah.
-No, I was actually walking through, and I said,
"Oh, maybe they´re not in our studio."
And Donna said -- the wardrobe person, you know --
she said to me, "No, this is actually your --
your exact studio."
We had people come out this way for reasons unknown to me.
And then I had to do a little dance and meet them
and hug and then run back.
-Yeah. -This is much more streamlined.
-Well, we -- this is -- we --
this is our second set in the time we had the show.
We started and we did a -- we had a weird swinging stage.
We did a lot of things wrong in the beginning, too.
[ Laughter ] -Yeah, it happens.
-I had to jump on the desk as it passed by.
-Well, that keeps you in shape...
-It does. -...and your core muscles toned.
-The fact was, I was going to age out of it, though.
-Eventually. -Yeah, eventually I was gonna --
-Sadly, we all do. -We all age out of it.
-We all do.
-So you did a show here from ´96 to 2002.
-Yes. -Do you miss having a talk show?
Do you -- did you enjoy your time doing it?
-I loved doing it. It was like a dream job.
But I knew going in that I was more of a sprinter
than a marathoner, you know? -Uh-huh.
-And I had a little baby boy who was just two years old.
Took his first steps, actually, in this studio.
-Unbelievable. That´s fantastic.
-And he´s now 22 and has enlisted in the Marines.
-Fantastic. -Yes, he did...
-Congratulations to him! [ Applause ]
-...just weeks ago. -Oh, great!
-And I had a great time doing it, but I definitely felt
I was done when I was done and then I needed a very long break.
-Yeah. Well, I hope you got your break.
And I´m very excited about what you´re coming back in now.
And certainly you´ve done plenty
between the time you left your show and this show.
But "SMILF" is -- is this true?
This is your first, like, sort of recurring role
in a television show? -It is.
When I was very young, I was on "Gimme a Break!" in 1986.
-Yes. -Yeah, with Nell Carter.
The role was Maggie O´Brien. I´m sure it´s familiar
to a lot of people here. [ Laughter ]
-"Whoo! Maggie!" -Yeah. That was it.
And that was sort of fun. But I really haven´t done one.
And when I saw the short film that Frankie Shaw,
who´s the --
-She´s the star of the show. We saw her in the clip.
-Yeah, beautiful young actress, 31 years old.
She wrote it, stars in it, directs it.
She´s absolutely amazing.
And I saw a short film she did, and she FaceTimed me
instead of an interview.
She FaceTimed me and said, "Would you do it?"
I said, "I´ll do anything you want because you are what,
"you know, feminists have hoped would come along
20 years later."
-Oh, that´s really exciting. -She really is.
She´s a phenomenal girl.
-Now, from the clip, we can all see you --
you wear a sort of gray wig on the show.
Does that give you -- -It´s actually my real hair.
-Oh, it is? Okay. [ Laughter ]
-It is, and...
-But it´s made more gray than it is in real life.
-Not really. -Okay.
[ Laughter ] -Now that I´m done filming --
-So the CGI -- the CGI -- -Yeah.
-Oh. -Yeah.
Now that -- actually, I had the extensions
taken out last night. -Okay.
-And a little darkness to try to cover.
-Okay. -Part of the gray.
But I am letting it go in gray for this role,
and my teenagers are not very happy about it.
-Oh, interesting. -Yeah.
In fact, I have been banned from volleyball games.
-Wow. They don´t want their mom to have gray hair
at a volleyball game?
-Apparently that´s a thing now with the kids.
-I didn´t know. -[ Laughs ]
-But I mean, I guess it would be weird to have your mother
show up and look like your grandmother, I guess.
But I don´t know, it´s kind of freeing.
I don´t really get noticed. -Oh, interesting.
So you have more anonymity because of the fact that you --
-Yes. -Yeah.
-And I was at the Admirals Club in L.A.X.
-Oh, look at you.
-That´s right, I have a gold card.
-Wow. -And, um --
-So this is the American Airlines lounge?
-Yeah. -Wow.
-Where all the cool people are.
-That is amazing.
-And I went up to the bar --
-And the coffee´s free there, right?
-And the croissants. -Wow!
-Yeah. -All right.
-Yeah, I´ll talk to people if you´re not in there.
But I went there and I went to the bar and I saw Josh Lucas,
that amazing actor... -Fine actor, yes.
-...from "Sweet Home Alabama." Y´all remember him?
-Yeah. -And I was like,
"Oh, that´s that guy, he was on my show.
What´s -- Oh, that´s Josh some--"
I go, "Hey, handsome actor man, can I buy you a drink?"
Literally, this is what he did to me.
[ Scoffs ]
-And I -- [ Laughter ]
And I was like, "What? Wait?"
I go, "Josh, it´s me!"
He´s like, "Oh, my God, I am so sorry.
Oh, my God." -[ Laughing ]
-And he´s the sweetest, and we have kids the same age,
believe it or not.
-I thought you were going to say you had kids together,
and I was like, "Oh, my God." [ Laughter ]
This went -- this turned -- this did a more than a 180.
-Lots of news breaking tonight, Seth.
I´m actually a heterosexual and have children with Josh Lucas.
-Oh, wow. -No.
-Thanks for saving it. -But we have babies
who are both like four and five years old
and we´re going to, you know, have some play dates.
He´s doing a play now in New York.
-Oh, fantastic. -I´m actually doing a play --
-That´s very exciting. I know you are a lover of Broadway.
-Yes.
-You´ve done a lot of plays in recent years.
Tell us about the one you´re about to do.
-It´s a new David Rabe play... -Very exciting.
-...called "Good for Otto." -Mm-hmm.
-And Ed Harris, Amy Madigan, and F. Murray Abraham.
-What a cast! -Yeah, no pressure at all.
-Yeah. -For the comic from Commack.
-Well, you´ll just tell them
you played O´Brien on the Nell Carter show.
-Maggie O´Brien. 1986. -[ Laughs ]
-Was a good piece of work.
Yeah, I think it´s going to be fun.
I´ve never really done a play. I´ve done a lot of musicals.
-Uh-huh. -But I´ve never done a play.
I did the Nora Ephron play that she wrote about clothing.
You know, "Love, Loss, and What I Wore."
-Uh-huh. -But that was us
sitting on a stage and reading.
This is actually a real play.
And, you know, David Rabe, who wrote "Hurlyburly" --
there are long monologues. -Uh-huh.
-And there´s no "Cut, take two," you know.
-Are you already preparing for it?
-I am. -Okay.
-Are you guys rehearsing it, or is it just sort of self-prep
at this point?
-Well, we start rehearsing in January.
But because I have these multiple page --
every character does --
multiple page sort of monologues,
I´ve -- I recorded them.
-Uh-huh. -And then when I´m, you know,
working out -- which I don´t do --
I, uh... [ Laughter ]
Truthfully, while I´m eating Entenmann´s crumb cakes...
[ Laughter ]
...trying not to hate-tweet the president.
[ Scattered cheers ]
No, I listen to it.
And so that´s how I sort of remember, is I keep --
I keep listening to it over and over and over.
And hopefully by the time we start rehearsal,
I´ll be ahead of the game.
-That´s really -- that is very exciting.
-Yeah. -And, you know,
I do think it´s that thrilling thing of,
because of the people you´re working with,
they will elevate your work. -Totally.
You want to rise to their level.
I mean, those are some amazing actors.
And you know, David Rabe, it´s really an honor to do it
and I´m thrilled for the challenge,
although mildly terrified.
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Rosie O'Donnell's Natural Gray Hair Is a Blessing and a Curse

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