Back when we covered Rosie O’Donnell’s joint O cover with The Mighty O (because no one can be on Oprah’s magazine without Oprah standing right there looking like she’s calling the shots), I mentioned that the contrast between Rosie and Oprah was noticeable and comical. Rosie was dorky in a pose that looked like she was a child lifting up her skirt (it was a stage curtain) while standing awkwardly in some combat boots. Oprah was behind her looking incredibly glamorous in an evening gown, like she was so much more elegant than Rosie could ever be. Well Oprah was also a lot thinner looking than Rosie, and supposedly that peeved Rosie off since it’s not the case at all in real life. It looks like the Photoshop grunts who work for Oprah are only allowed to thinify Oprah, not the occasional minions she permits to share the cover with her. Rosie wondered why she looked so fat in comparison.

Rosie O’Donnell is furious over the October cover of “O” magazine she shares with Oprah Winfrey – she feels she was used as a prop to make her new TV boss look skinny.

The Emmy winner “believes Oprah resorted to trick photography” to alter the picture so she looks thin, but didn’t use the same manipulation for Rosie, an insider told The Enquirer…

“Rosie is upset because she worked hard to make herself look good and get back into shape for ‘The Rosie Show,’” said the insider. “And this cover just makes her look terrible – especially standing next to Oprah, who is clearly slimmed down through the miracle of computer technology.

“In reality, Oprah has at least 30 pounds on Rosie!”

[Oprahs] O covers had removed her flabby belly, double chin, refined her nose and slimmed down her body to make her appear at least 50 pounds trimmer. They even retouched her feet to make them look like those of a foot model while her real feet look almost deformed with crooked bunion toes!

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, October 3, 2011]

I love how The Enquirer calls out Oprah on her hammer toes! That’s so funny. Well Rosie has a new thin girlfriend, so if she’s worried about looking heavy next to someone she’s about to deal with that on a daily basis. I kind of love it when Oprah gets called on her egotism though. She sees herself as a benevolent deity sent here to rescue us from the daily grind, and it’s clear that type of delusion extends to her personal appearance too.

Oh and check out the image they used for the inside of the magazine. Rosie in a bunch of TVs with Oprah presiding over her.

photo credit: Fame and O Magazine

Rosie O’Donnell is the co-cover girl on Oprah’s O Magazine this month (because Oprah never lets anyone get the cover unless she standing right next to them as they lick her ass). Rosie is attempting to remake her image after seeming so pissed off at the world when she stood her ground against View co-hostess Elisabeth Hasselbeck, quit that job and then later mildly trashed her then-employer, Barbara Walters. (Who deserved it, but still.) She’s got a new show on the OWN network and Oprah has to present Rosie as reformed and back to her old ’90s koosh-throwing self. I think that ship has sailed, but admittedly I haven’t listened to Rosie on satellite radio lately. Many of you have commented that she’s got a great show despite the dumb sh*t she often says.

So here’s how Rosie explains away her breakup with her longterm girlfriend, and her anger issues. She tends to place blame on external factors instead of taking personal responsibility, but it sounds like she understands that she needs to change her image.

Rosie O’Donnell opens up to Oprah Winfrey in O, The Oprah Magazine about her split with Kelli Carpenter, how she calmed her rage, why she takes to being a mother-of-four, what led her to the OWN network and more in an in-depth Q&A between the talk show legends.

In the interview, O’Donnell opens up about her 2007 split from ex Kelli Carpenter, calling it “humbling” and “humiliating.”

“In the O’Donnell family, no one had ever been divorced,” the Exit To Eden star explained.

O’Donnell told a story about their conflicting lifestyles that ultimately led to their split.

“She wanted to play tennis at the country club, and I don’t do country clubs. I tried,” O’Donnell said. “They made an exception for a gay family, and we joined. It was a big thing: ‘They let in a gay family – whoo!’

“So I show up to play with her, and somebody comes out and says, ‘You can’t play unless you have tennis whites.’”

O’Donnell told Winfrey that receiving estrogen treatments has helped her stop seeing red all the time.

“I had, like, zero estrogen. And since I got some, I’ve been able to function more normally,” O’Donnell said. “I’ve stopped being so angry. You know, I think I had a lot more rage than I was aware of.

“But I’ve gotten back access to my other feelings. I’m not cut off from my emotions anymore.”

O’Donnell held little back in discussing her four children, admitting that she often connects better with the young’uns than she does adults.

“The truth is, I’m a little socially awkward — with adults, I still need Relationship 101. But I was always comfortable around kids and always wanted a family of my own.

“I would die for any of my children, and, more importantly, I would live for any of them.”

O’Donnell returns to the air with the debut of The Rosie Show on OWN next month; Winfrey gave her prize acquisition huge words of praise, saying that “in 25 years of doing my show, only one competitor ever seriously challenged me in the ratings: Rosie O’Donnell.

“From the day Rosie took her place among the crowded field of talk show hosts, I knew she had the ‘It’ thing,” Winfrey said.

O’Donnell returned the praise, admitting she passed on a network deal to hitch her wagon onto Oprah’s brand.

“I was actually on the verge of signing a new deal with NBC, and — this probably sounds kiss-assy, but it’s true — just before I was about to sign, I remember saying to my agent, ‘Doesn’t Oprah have her own channel? Can we call there?’

“If I was going back to entertaining, I wanted to work with you,” O’Donnell said.

[From Radar Online]

I find it very hard to believe that Rosie was on the verge of signing a deal with NBC. She had a live variety show on NBC in the fall of 2008 that was absolutely unfunny, awful, and completely tanked in the ratings. Oprah kind of says it all when she explains that she’s never had competition from any other talk show hostess. Now she’s Rosie’s boss, and I’m sure she’s relishing that.

As for the estrogen stuff causing mood problems, I’ve heard that before. It must be really tough to go through menopause. US Weekly has some more quotes from the interview in which Rosie says that hormone shots changed her life.

There’s a promo clip for Rosie’s new shown on the OWN website. It’s kind of disjointed and annoying.

Oh and the cover is just so fug. Rosie is holding a stage curtain over her front, but it looks like she’s lifting up her dress to reveal fishnets and gold combat boots with her toes pointing inward. It’s awful and they made her all clownish while Oprah got to look glam. Typical.

The National Enquirer ran a story over two years ago that Jenny McCarthy was in talks with Oprah for a talk show deal. It’s wasn’t just The Enquirer, either, The Hollywood Reporter ran a similar story in May, 2009 claiming that McCarthy had “inked a multi-year overall deal with Winfrey’s Harpo Prods. to develop projects on different platforms, including a syndicated talk show that the actress/author would host.” Supporting these stories was a new blog that Jenny started that was hosted on Oprah’s website. Only that was just about the last we heard about a McCarthy Oprah collaboration apart from some rumors.

I was honestly just thinking about this a couple of weeks ago when I wrote about how Neil Patrick Harris might get a talkshow with Oprah. According to Bill Zwecker at the Chicago Sun Times, Jenny’s talks with Oprah stalled and she eventually pulled out of the potential deal. After over two years that sounds pretty reasonable. Zwecker has “a number of sources” who have told him that Jenny is now trying to work with NBC to get something off the ground.

Apparently due to those old “creative differences,” South Side native Jenny McCarthy pulled the plug on her development deal for a talk show on Winfrey’s new network — and reportedly will take the concept to NBC.

Now, I want to stress that the Peacock Network’s representative would not admit any McCarthy tie to NBC, saying only, “We do not comment on projects in development.”

However, a number of sources have confirmed the actress, autism advocate and Mother McAuley High School grad believes her talks with NBC will get her show on the air quickly — and showcased to a far larger audience than she would have had at OWN.

The Winfrey-owned network did issue a curt confirmation that “OWN does not have a show in development with Jenny McCarthy.”

I also understand that Winfrey and her OWN team are deeply disappointed by McCarthy’s impatience with the rate of progress in developing the new program.

“OWN clearly needs a big infusion of compelling programming if it’s going to begin to build a decent-sized audience, but Jenny should have thought twice — or three or four times! — before burning a bridge with Oprah,” said a veteran TV exec, very knowledgeable about OWN, Winfrey’s organizational process and her production team.

[From The Chicago Sun Times]

That’s probably pretty smart of Jenny. Yes no one should burn bridges with The Mighty O, but really how well is OWN going to do? Jenny is better off going to an established network where she’ll have a wider viewership. NBC isn’t very skilled at promoting or giving its best shows a fighting chance, but surely it’s better than OWN. As for how well Jenny will do as a talk show host that remains to be seen. She’s a goof ball with some pretty controversial ideas about healthcare to say the least. She’s entertaining though and she seems to be able to hold her own.

Photos are from April and May of this year. Credit: WENN.com

Oprah may have messed up by giving shows to Dr. Phil, Sarah Ferguson and Rosie O’Donnell, but if the National Enquirer is to be believed she could be about to redeem herself. Everyone’s favorite awards show host, Neil Patrick Harris, is supposedly in talks to join the OWN network as host of a talk show. The way the Enquirer explains this, Neil contacted Oprah with his idea for a talkshow and got a positive response. I hope that this is true and that it works out for him. An NPH talkshow could be a real boost for OWN, which has yet to find its legs. I’ve heard some pundit talk about how Oprah should be worried since it could take years for OWN to take off.

Neil Patrick Harris has reached out to Oprah Winfrey about letting him host a show on her new OWN network. “After their initial conversation, Oprah was intrigued enough to set up two follow-up brainstorming meetings on Skype with Neil,” said a source. “Oprah is mentoring Neil while also trying to bolster her own brand.”

Since OWN launched in January of this year, its ratings have been on a steady decline.

“Oprah realized Neil’s mass appeal to TV audiences, as well as his unique perspective as a gay parent juggling home life and a high-profile career in Hollywood,” continued the source.

“Oprah needs a shot of adrenaline in the OWN network and a hot daytime talk show could be just the ticket.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, August 1, 2011]

But what about Oprah re-entering the talkshow space on OWN? Like I thought she was going to get her own show back, and now that she’s bringing in Rosie the space on her network could be more crowded. For now I think she might just be re-airing her old shows with some new commentary from her and her staff. (More on that here.) I couldn’t find anything on her website or anywhere else about when she might have new episodes of a talkshow on OWN. Maybe she wants to take a break for a while.

The Enquirer reminds us that Neil brings more to the table for Oprah in terms of his “long roster of A-list friends he could call on to make guest appearances.” Oh now I’m all excited for him to get his own talk show!

Photos from 6/20/11 and 6/2/11. Credit: WENN.com

After ending her long-running daytime television talk show, Oprah Winfrey hasn’t exactly been idle. Instead, she’s been devoting much of her time to the school she opened in South Africa, and she’s stated in a letter to her fans that she plans to return this fall to teach a ‘Life 101′ class. Of course, this isn’t the same as teaching an academic subject, but I can admire that Oprah’s doing some real footwork at her school instead of, you know, pulling a Madonna by merely throwing money at the cause (i.e., that fraud-tinged “Raising Malawi” charity), expecting things to happen, and then being all surprised when it falls apart. Nope, that’s not happening in this instance; and while Oprah will undoubtedly be housed in a luxury villa during her fall stay, she’s at least putting her mouth where her money is, so to speak.

Oprah Winfrey is back in the USA after spending time with her “girls” at the school she opened in South Africa, but don’t fear, ladies, Miss O will be returning soon in the role of teacher.

“They were all stressed for tests, but doing fine,” Oprah emailed fans — including yours truly — about her students. “No major crisis this trip. I love being with them and talking to them about all things important. When I’m there I’m talking from the time I get up till I go to bed, about EVERYTHING teenage girls are going through. It’s the same all over the world.”

Oprah revealed that she would be returning this fall to teach a class called “It’s Life 101″ about all the stuff she wished someone had told her about how the world really works.

“Should be fun since I love to teach. And they’re like sponges,” Oprah said. “Like 12th graders everywhere, this first class is both anxious and excited about going to college. Most will be the first in their family. So it’s a very big deal for them, and they’re feeling the pressure.”

Adding that there is nothing like leaving the USA to get a deeper appreciation of the freedoms we sometimes take for granted.

“When Chris Rock was last on the show he said, ‘real wealth is having options.’ I thought that was pretty profound,” Oprah says. “I now stress to my girls that education prepares you to have options. Without it you have none. Just took a walk around the neighborhood watching sprinklers on the back lawn … (I love sprinklers) Made me think about the red dirt road I traveled from Mississippi (no sprinklers) to the here and now … And how that journey could have only been possible in the USA.”

[From Popeater]

Sometimes, I find Oprah’s shtick a bit too sanctimonious but, all things considered, she’s really putting good things out there in the world, and I hope she follows this pattern throughout her post-daytime television era. It’s easy to criticize her for living in her own sort of wealth-induced bubble, but it really doesn’t work any benefit to complain about what she does do in terms of charitable purposes. Yes, Oprah has a self-inflated picture of her own importance, but she does a lot more with her celebrity than any other number of examples.

Here’s another photo of Oprah in May as she was inducted into the Illinois Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame (and yes, that’s Roger Ebert alongside her) as well as a picture from last year’s Walk For A Better Life in NYC.

Photos courtesy of Fame

Ooooh, scandal! The print edition of Us Weekly has an interesting little “behind the scenes” story about this year’s post-Oscar Oprah episode. For years, Oprah managed to do a “morning after” the Oscars show, usually with all of the newly-minted Oscar-winning actors. I noticed that on this year’s show, it was very heavy on the Hathaway and very light on the Natalie Portman. I just figured that it was nothing, though. Turns out, Natalie Portman was scheduled for the show, but she cancelled at the last minute, leaving Oprah at the lurch.

And the award for most blatant blow-off goes to… Natalie Portman! Portman had committed to appearing on Oprah Winfrey’s post-Oscars special, but as the May 22 episode of “Oprah Behind the Scenes” reveals, Portman cancelled just two hours before the taping in LA.

“She’s in a hotel room 15 minutes away,” a staffer sobbed. “But she’s not coming… because she’s pregnant and exhausted.”

The insult to injury? Unlike Winfrey, 57 – who was truly ill and went to bed early – Portman was pooped from partying! As Us Weekly reported, she was out dancing with Madonna at 4 a.m.

[From Us Weekly, print edition]

Not even Julia Roberts stands up Oprah! I mean, on one side, I can understand that Natalie wanted to go out after her Oscar win, as is her right, and why not party until the wee hours? And if she didn’t feel like going on Oprah, fine. But what bugs is that Natalie AGREED to come on and simply didn’t feel like pulling it together for Oprah. Meh… maybe Oprah should have invited Sarah Lane on instead. From what I gather, Lane gave the bulk of the Oscar-winning performance! (haha, let’s see how many people yell at me for that)

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Forbes just issued its annual “Celebrity 100″ list, which aims to rank actors, models, musicians, athletes, and the like through some enormously complicated algorithm (that we couldn’t possibly understand), which not only awards points for monetary earnings but also for tv/radio, media, web, and social rankings. Apparently, omnipresence is key, and who (for better or worse) is more present in this day and age than Lady Gaga? In fact, Gaga only earned $90 million compared to Oprah Winfrey’s $290 million, but Gaga’s influence has somehow overshadowed that of Oprah, which meant a displacement at the #1 position:

The men and women on our annual Celebrity 100 list–the most powerful people in the entertainment business this year–earned $4.5 billion over the last 12 months by starring in films, playing basketball, walking the catwalk and more. But they also rose to the top by garnering influence.

These days that means mastering social media. Lady Gaga topples Oprah Winfrey from her No.1 spot on our list, which she’s given up for only the third time in seven years. Gaga is there not just because of the $90 million she earned with a monster tour, but also because of her 32 million Facebook fans and 10 million Twitter followers–aka Little Monsters–who helped move 1 million digital downloads of her recent single “Born This Way” in only five days. They’re also happy to buy the MAC makeup, Monster headphones and Virgin Mobile phones she features in her videos.

Oprah doesn’t fall far though. The daytime talk maven, who earned $290 million last year, comes in second. Winfrey’s earnings sank $25 million partially due to a reduced payday at SiriusXM. She still earns big from her syndicated show and from the stars she’s spawned, including Dr. Phil (No. 18), Rachael Ray, and Dr. Oz. Winfrey’s earning power will take a bigger hit next year, when her syndicated show ends and she concentrates all her efforts on the struggling OWN network.

Maybe it would help if Oprah took a lesson from No. 3 Justin Bieber. The Biebs debuts on our list at the tender young age of 17, with $53 million earned over the last 12 months thanks to concerts, music sales and a 3-D documentary movie that grossed $100 million at the global box office. If this were 10 years ago Bieber would still be paying his dues in small clubs and schools, but thanks to the Internet, he’s a sensation. His first hit song, “Baby,” has been viewed 500 million times, a YouTube record.

Despite problems on and off the golf course, Tiger Woods still makes the top 10, ranking sixth with $75 million in annual earnings. Woods hasn’t won a tournament since the revelation of his marital infidelities in 2009, and he recently withdrew from The Players Championship. But he still commands $3 million a pop for overseas appearances, and collects money from his remaining sponsors, Nike and Electronic Arts.

[From Forbes]

In third place? The reprehensible Justin Bieber. Rounding out the top 10 are U2, Elton John, Taylor Swift, Bon Jovi, Simon Cowell, and Lebron James. (Basically, this is a list of people that we can’t stand, right?) Also scoring quite high (#15 with $77 million in earnings) are Leonardo DiCaprio (which will certainly make Blake Lively happy); the nauseating Bethenny Frankel (#42 with $55 million); and Will Smith (#65 with $36 million) because of the upcoming Men in Black III and also because he pimped out his kids (Jaden as the new Karate Kid an actor and Willow as YouTube phenom). Failing to rank at all this year were Britney Spears and Daniel Radcliffe. You can read the full list here.

Photos courtesy of Fame Pictures

On Monday, Oprah revealed her secret, the secret that would leave us SHAKEN TO OUR CORE. That secret? She has a half-sister named Patricia. And the half-sister isn’t trying to famewhore or ask for some Oprah Bucks either. From what I’ve seen and read about Patricia, she really does seem like a nice, normal lady who just happened to find out that she’s related to Oprah. So, of course, Gayle King is worried. What if Patricia replaces Gayle?!? What if Oprah decides that she prefers Patricia to Gayle? What if Oprah decides she needs to give Patricia a job… GAYLE’S JOB?!? Yeah, that is what PopEater’s gossip guy is saying. Apparently, Gayle is having a little breakdown over this:

It can’t be easy finding out that your long lost sister is Oprah Winfrey and then appearing on her show in front of millions. However, that is easy as pie compared to meeting the TV queen’s longtime best friend Gayle King. “I can’t wait to meet Patricia,” she told ABC.

“Gayle must have mixed feelings about the arrival of Patricia,” an insider tells me. “Of course she wants nothing but the best for Oprah, but there has to be just a little tiny part of Gayle that is asking, ‘What now?’”

Oprah announced she had a half-sister a few days ago, but already her fans, and Gayle, are chattering about what role Patricia will play in the star’s life.

“Gayle is very protective about her relationship with Oprah and is not used to sharing her with anyone,” a friend of Gayle’s tells me, adding that the new addition to the family could be a “bigger adjustment” for Gayle than for Oprah.

But as Gayle has already said, Patricia has proved she’s an amazing person.

“This is extraordinary that somebody would have this information about Oprah, who as you know has been sold out on many occasions by friends, by co-workers, in some cases family,” Gayle said. “Patricia wasn’t trying to get Oprah, she was trying to find her mother … having Oprah as a sister, a half-sister, was a bonus.”

This could be a tough adjustment for you, Gayle, but don’t worry love — there is enough room in the great O’s heart for both of you.

[From PopEater]

“The new addition to the family could be a ‘bigger adjustment’ for Gayle than for Oprah.” Oh, FFS. I have this image of Steadman sitting Gayle down like a child and explaining, “Oprah will always love you, but she just needs to spend some time with her sister, who she never even knew existed. Oprah’s heart is big enough to love you both.” Cue Gayle “acting out” like a kid whose parents are getting a divorce.

Photos courtesy of WENN and Oprah‘s show.

*There are SPOILERS for today’s episode of Oprah, if you care.

If you’ve seen the promos for today’s episode of Oprah, you know that Oprah is going to reveal something SHOCKING. Well, the secret is out. Be prepared to be SHOCKED TO YOUR VERY CORE. Oprah has a half-sister. Her mom had a baby and gave the baby up for adoption before Oprah’s mom met her dad. UPDATE: I got that wrong. Oprah was 9 years old when her mom gave this baby up for adoption. This woman is Oprah’s only living sibling, apparently.

As promised, Oprah Winfrey spilled the beans on her shocking family secret during her show, broadcast in Chicago Monday morning.

The big reveal: Winfrey, 56, discovered a half-sister she never knew she had. Named Patricia, the sibling was given up for adoption as a child in 1963, and now lives in Milwaukee, Wisc.

The talk show guru learned about the long-lost relative in November, and they met up in November.

Patricia had long been searching for the identity of the mother who gave her up for adoption; in 2007, she discovered that world-famous Winfrey was her half-sister.

As for Oprah, she says she was 9 years old and living with her father, Vernon, when her mother gave birth to Patricia and gave her up. Winfrey didn’t even know about her mom’s pregnancy, she says.

“I thought I’d seen it all,” Winfrey teased about the discovery on Friday. “But this, my friends, is the miracle of all miracles.”

She added that the news “literally shook me to my core.” The mogul has been frank on her show about her difficult past: She was born into poverty, sexually abused at a young age and lost a baby at age 14.

[From Us Weekly]

I feel weird because although my family is strange, we never have these Jerry Springer moments of missing children given up for adoption or multiple potential baby-daddies or long-lost relatives in Wisconsin (exotic!). So… I have no frame of reference. Still, this seems like a big “meh”. Isn’t Oprah’s family really screwed up in general? Wasn’t it one of her relatives that got her pregnant when she was a kid? And now we find out that her mom had a baby and didn’t tell anyone. It’s all so Mad Men. Oprah’s mom is Peggy. Gayle is Don Draper, I think.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Octomom Nadya Suleman was on Oprah on Friday, and financial guru Suze Orman got up in her face, called her a liar, and said she was “completely out of touch with reality.” Suleman claimed she “saved” up the money to pay for in vitro this last time after having six kids she already couldn’t afford and Suze yelled “lie, lie, lie, I went through your finances… you did not save the money!” (You can watch that segment on Oprah.com and Radar has another.) Suleman backed down and claimed she she saved and borrowed. Suze asked Octomom if she was a baby addict, and made her give a direct answer. Octomom tried to plead her case to Oprah using a bunch of psychobabble as usual and the whole scene just made me feel sorry for Suze Orman. I love Suze, and I regularly watch her shown on CNBC. (You can download the podcast for free on iTunes.) It’s beneath her to try to talk financial sense to a lying whackjob like Octomom, even if Oprah is involved.

A few months ago, Suze gave advice to Octomom with steps to get her financial house in order. Suze said on Oprah that Octomom had $300 in her bank account at the time and was about a week away from being kicked out of her home with all 14 of her kids. Suleman, who declared bankruptcy a couple of years ago, swore up and down that she took Orman’s advice to heart. She said she held a yard sale, secured an agent and has worked a couple of jobs since.

At that point Suleman had yet to resort to working in porn. We’ve heard that adult film Vivid head Steven Hirsh is anxious to work with her, and has even paid off a $450,000 balloon payment she has owed on her home since March, 2010. Suleman has been making her typical excuses as to why she’s facing foreclosure yet again, but it looks like she’s been bailed out by Vivid this time.

Now there’s news that Octomom is starring in a spanking fetish video, in which “she whips a grown man wearing a baby diaper and a bonnet” while “dressed in a black corset [and] black leggings.” The thing is, TMZ reports that the video “is being shopped for sale,” which makes it sound like it’s not owned by Vivid. Did Octomom make her own fetish video in order to make ends meet? Hirsh shouldn’t hold his breath – the bitch isn’t going to pay him back that $450k she owes him. If this video wasn’t made by Vivid, it sounds like Suleman is trying to beat them at their own game. Suze does not approve. “DENIED!”