Rosie O’Donnell’s eldest daughter, Chelsea Belle O’Donnell, was recently arrested and charged with child neglect and drug possession. With Chelsea’s arrest in the news, Rosie, 62, says, “sadly this is not new for our family.”
Rosie is mom to five children. She and her ex-wife Kelli Carpenter adopted their daughter Chelsea, 27, when Chelsea was a baby. Chelsea was arrested in Wisconsin on September 10, 2024, and arrested again on October 11.
On October 19, Rosie shared a photo of Chelsea on Instagram. The photo shows Chelsea, who is a mom of four, holding one of her children. The photo is from “a better time,” Rosie shared in her post.
“Chelsea is in the news today – this is a photo from a better time,” Rosie wrote on Instagram. She went on to share a statement on Chelsea’s arrest.
“Sadly this is not new for our family – chelsea has struggled with drug addiction for a decade – we r all hopeful she will find her way out of this deadly disease,” the statement read. After her initial arrest in September, Chelsea was charged with neglecting a child, possession of methamphetamine, and maintaining a drug trafficking place, which are all felony charges, per Us Weekly.
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Additionally, she faces several misdemeanor charges: possession of THC, drug paraphernalia, and illegally obtained prescription drugs, and disorderly conduct. After her October 11 arrest, Chelsea faces additional charges, including felony counts of possession of methamphetamine, possession of narcotic drugs, and bail jumping, and misdemeanor counts of resisting or obstructing an officer and possession of drug paraphernalia, reported People.
Rosie’s daughter Chelsea remains in custody and is due to appear in court on November 4 and November 7. Over the years, Rosie and Chelsea have had a rocky relationship. In 2015, Chelsea ran away from home. She was 17 years old at the time. At the time, Cindi Berger, a representative for Rosie O’Donnell, told People that “Chelsea, like millions of people, lives with mental illness. It has been a difficult road for Chelsea and her family and they just want her back safe.” She added that “Rosie loves Chelsea very much.”
Though Chelsea was found safe, she decided to live with her birth mother shortly after that.
In 2018, Rosie and Chelsea reconnected. That year, on The Talk, she spoke about repairing her relationship with her daughter.
“I think with my relationship with my daughter, Chelsea, it really has because we went through some really public troubled times,” Rosie said at the time. “She’s doing better now and we’re both communicating with each other.”
