News Munchies
Magazine Says Rosie Relationship Torpedoed by 'Uber Bitch'
Originally Posted
Updated
The bloom is off the Rose.
Because former talk show host Rosie O'Donnell quit her namesake magazine (see Magazine No Longer 'Coming Up Roses' for O'Donnell), publisher Gruner + Jahr USA has filed a lawsuit, claiming that her decision to quit will cost the company "in excess of $100 million in damages."
The magazine, created as a 50-50 joint venture from the ashes of McCall's magazine, had been successful since its founding in April 2001. O'Donnell was angered when magazine executives declined to run articles on lesbian adoptions and other political activist topics she favored in favor of fashion and relationship pieces that Rosie deemed too "girlie."
The lawsuit says the relationship "changed drastically beginning in July 2002, when O'Donnell, having recently terminated her daytime television talk show, began to transform her public persona from the warm, fun-loving 'Queen of Nice' to a self-proclaimed 'uber bitch,' and to behave erratically and in defiance of her contractual commitments to G+J."
Following O'Donnell's May "revelation" that she was a lesbian, her daily television talk show, which dealt with relationship issues and was targeted at Middle American housewives, lost viewers. The show was canceled over the summer.
"Rosie plans on fighting this aggressively. Her name and integrity is at stake," her spokeswoman said. "She will be countersuing."
O'Donnell's lawyer, ever hopeful, said, "When all the facts come out in the course of litigation, we're confident that a court will find that Rosie's decision to terminate the agreement with G+J was justified by G+J's misconduct, and that the court will award her significant monetary relief."
According to lawsuit documents, Rosie said, "If I have to go down, I will take G+J down with me, even if I have to spend every last cent I have."
For some unfathomable reason, O'Donnell ranks No. 32 on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list.