Rosie O’Donnell Claims Her Late Father Sexually Abused Her When She Was ‘Very Young’

It hasn’t been an easy journey for Rosie O’Donnell, who often spoke publicly about her childhood struggles on her 90s daytime talk show. Throughout the six seasons of The Rosie O’Donnell Show, the 56-year-old candidly opened up about losing her mom, Roseann Teresa, to breast cancer — an event that altered her life in a way that would never be the same.

Now, in an upcoming book titled Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of ‘The View’ by Ramin Setoodeh, Rosie claims her father, Edward Joseph, sexually abused her as a child. “It started very young,” she admitted to Variety. “And then when my mother died, it sort of ended in a weird way because then he was with these five children to take care of.”

Though it’s been decades since the tragic situation, Rosie explained why she waited to speak out against her father, who passed away in 2015. “On the whole, it’s not something I like to talk about,” she revealed. “Of course, it changes everyone. Any child who is put in that position, especially by someone in the family, you feel completely powerless and stuck because the person you would tell is the person doing it.”

The mom-of-five has been a vocal advocate for sexual abuse victims for years. “I’m very anti-Roman Polanski and anti-Woody Allen,” Rosie said in the book, referring to Woody’s daughter, Dylan Farrow, has accused her father of sexually assaulting her when she was just 7 years old. “It’s a pretty clear line for me,” she added.

Ladies Who Punch will be giving a glimpse inside an emotional and heartwrenching sit-down with Rosie. The book will also include “stunning interviews with nearly every host” The View has ever had and stories about them that you’ve never heard before, according to the preface. If you’re interested in snagging a copy, Ladies Who Punch hits shelves on April 2.