At yesterday’s Matrix Awards at the Waldorf Astoria, we caught up with Rosie O’Donnell, who was there to present an award to her publicist, Cindi Berger. O’Donnell told us a little bit about the show she will be doing for Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network — “a daily strip show similar to hers more than my own†— and her story of how the series came about is like something out of 21st-century folklore (and also confirms our long-held suspicions of Oprah’s omnipresence).
“[Oprah] announced that she was leaving,†O’Donnell told us, “and then everybody approached me saying, ‘Would you go back?’ And I was like, ‘Yes, but isn’t she doing her own network?’ So I was about to sign with a major network, and I kept saying, ‘Could we just put in one more call?’ On the day I was supposed to sign, the Oprah network called and said, ‘She’s on a plane, she’s gonna come talk to you.’ I was like, ‘No way,’ and she was.â€
O’Donnell made a mad dash to get her Nyack home in order and found help from Berger, who was determined to cater the event.
“I called her ahead of time,†Berger chimed in, “and I said, ‘Do you have nice platters? I’m bringing food from the city,’ and she said, ‘I’m a lesbian. We don’t have platters.’ A classic line.â€
“And she told me to get dressed up,†O’Donnell continued. “I usually wear sweatpants and Crocs. I wore a new T-shirt from Old Navy, and she was furious.†Still, the jig was up when Oprah finally arrived, O’Donnell said. “She walked in and my little 7-year-old daughter said, ‘I just think you should know, our house is not usually this fancy,’ because we cleaned the whole thing.â€