Rosie O'Donnell made secret return to US
Rosie O'Donnell recently made a secret return to the US - and was surprised at how "very different" it seemed in the year since she moved to Ireland.
Rosie O'Donnell is shocked by how "very different" the US feels since she left.
The A League of their Own actress relocated to Dublin, Ireland, last year with youngest child, 13-year-old Clay amid her frustration at Donald Trump being re-elected as US president, but recently returned to New York City for a brief break and felt very disconnected to her old home after finding more "balance" with her new life.
Speaking on SiriusXM's Cuomo Mornings, she said: "I was in New York for the last two weeks, and I have to tell you, it feels like a very different country, a very different place to me.
"Because for a year I haven't been watching the news. I haven't been watching American culture television.
"I'm in a place where celebrity worship does not exist. I've been in a place where there's more balance to the news, there's more balance to life.
"It's not everyone trying to get more, more, more. It's a very different culture. And I felt the United States in a completely different way than I ever had before I left."
The A League of Their Own star's four adult children still live in the US and Rosie was keen to spend time with them - as well as work out how "hard" it would be for her to get back into the US following Trump's threat to revoke her citizenship.
She said: "I was recently home for two weeks, and I did not really tell anyone.
"I just went to see my family. I wanted to see how hard it would be for me to get in and out of the country. I wanted to feel what it felt like. I wanted to hold my children again. And I hadn't been home in over a year.
"I also wanted to make sure that it was safe for me before I brought my daughter this summer, where we plan to spend the summertime off from her schooling here with my family.
"My son is having his first child. So we're very excited to be home."
Rosie has no regrets about her move to Ireland.
She said: "I think I did what I needed to do to save myself, my child, and my sanity. And I'm very happy that I'm not in the midst of it there, because the energy that I felt while I was in the United States was — if I can use the most simple word I can think of — it was scary.
"There's a feeling that something is really wrong, and nobody is doing anything about it."
The former View presenter previously avoided returning to the US because of security concerns.
She said in September: "My daughter graduated college and I didn't go back because the security people said to me they didn't think it was wise. Because I think Trump will use me to rile his base."
