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Rosie O’Donnell Says Her Decades-Long Love for Tom Cruise Was Never Sexual: “I Want Him To Mow My Lawn And Bring Me An Iced Tea.”

Updated 4 days ago, August 14, 2026

O’Donnell first professed her love for Tom Cruise on TV in the ’90s, and she says the confusion when she came out as a lesbian in 2002 always baffled her.

Tom Cruise and Rosie O'Donnell at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards in Los Angeles, 2001 — Tom Cruise and Rosie O’Donnell together at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards held at Barker Hangar in Los Angeles on April 21, 2001. Photo by Kevin Winter / Hulton Archive via Getty Images.

“When I finally did come out and people were shocked, I was like, ‘How the hell are you shocked?’ And they’re like, ‘The Tom Cruise thing.’ I’m like, ‘How much clearer did I have to be?'” she said on the Aug. 11 episode of Amy Poehler’s “Good Hang” podcast.

Rosie O'Donnell at the arrivals for the 79th Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York City — At Radio City Music Hall on June 7, 2026, Rosie O’Donnell arrives for the 79th Annual Tony Awards in New York City. Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images.

The 64-year-old former talk show host said she can still be moved by a man’s sexiness, like she was watching Luke Evans in “The Rocky Horror Show” on Broadway. “I don’t want you naked in my bed. I’m not interested in the downtown mechanics,” she said. “But I would like you to maybe have lunch with me and get me a lemonade.”

Tom Cruise at the Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning photocall at the 78th Cannes Film Festival — At the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, Tom Cruise steps out for the Mission Impossible – The Final Reckoning photocall, part of the 78th Cannes Film Festival on May 14, 2025. Photo by Pascal Le Segretain / Getty Images.

Cruise leaned into the crush himself. After “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” premiered in 1996, he appeared on an episode that December, bringing her flowers and multiple kisses. She says he’s remembered her birthday every year since.