Rosie O'Donnell is definitely not one to hold back from sharing her opinions on pretty much anyone or anything. Those opinions extend to Donald Trump and his daughter, Ivanka.
Rosie sat down for an interview with Michelangelo Signorile on SiriusX in 2020 and she dove right in.
"There's creepy incest feel that is very prevalent amongst Donald Trump and his children, at least his daughter [Ivanka]. I think he's been doing bad things with her for a very long time."
Rosie also didn't hold back from sharing exactly what she thought about Ivanka's role in the White House, or about the Trump family in general.
"I think she's, like, a talentless, non-intelligent, non-powerful woman. It's laughable to think of her [Ivanka] in any kind of public service role. No one in his family has ever been in public service. Why should they start now?"
This isn't the first time that questions have been raised about Donald's relationship with his daughter. In fact, direct quotes from Donald Trump about Ivanka have often been the fuel for the fire.
In 2004, Donald Trump was interviewed by Howard Stern, and he spoke brazenly about Ivanka, who was then 23 years old. In the video clip, he says, "My daughter is beautiful, Ivanka." Howard jumps in, asking, "Can I say this? A piece of [expletive]." Donald replies, "Yeah."
Donald returned to the show in 2006, and Howard again asked pretty crass questions about Ivanka's body. He started off by asking, "Did your daughter get breast implants?"
Donald replied, "No, she didn't. I mean, I would know if she did. The answer is no. Why, did she look a little more stacked?" Howard says, "She looks more voluptuous than ever."
Instead of avoiding the topic, Donald keeps it going. "No, she didn't get them. She's actually always been very voluptuous."
Rosie and Donald haven't really been friends ever, and the feud between the two heated up a few years ago when Rosie shared that she doesn't believe the mythos that Donald Trump is a "self-made man." And considering that there's plenty of evidence that Donald's father, Fred Trump, completely funded all of his projects … it's not hard to understand why Rosie feels this way.
Rosie told People magazine, "I said some things about him — not nearly as bad as I could have said … but I just talked about him not being a self-made man, having money from his father, and saying he went bankrupt — and it made him go berserk. He went on a tirade for a good decade that hasn't ended today."
Others have also studied the relationship between father and daughter and drawn uneasy conclusions. Ivanka has often been described as Donald's favorite child, and Trump patriarchs have definitely displayed a fondness for showing favor to one child over another.
Body language expert Patti Wood studied several photos of Donald and Ivanka and shared her thoughts. "She feels a certain level of power. He feels a certain level of power. They each have their own internal feeling about the power they have with the other person. Meanwhile, we see her desire to connect with him in many of the photos of them."
Patti notes that their behavior is particularly telling in one photo.
"Look how straight up-and-down he is. His head is not fully forward. Compare that to her energy, to how far forward her head and body are. He's standing in his strength and power, and he's not giving her a lot of close affection with that arm around her. He's not about being a dad in this moment, but she's all about being a daughter. The fingers around his upper arm are going for affection, but she's also showing she feels she has some strength in the relationship."
Donald also made pretty uncomfortable comments about Ivanka back in 1997, when she hosted the Miss Teen USA pageant at the age of 16. While speaking to that year's crowned Miss Universe about Ivanka, he noted, "Don't you think my daughter's hot? She's hot, right?"
While speaking on The View, he again made inappropriate comments about his young daughter and Playboy magazine. "I don't think Ivanka would [pose nude] inside the magazine. She does have a very nice figure. If Ivanka weren't my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her."
In 2015, he appeared on The Daily Show and was at it again. "Yeah, [Ivanka's] really something and what a beauty, that one. If I weren't happily married, and ya know, her father …"
The comments are definitely questionable at best, especially since Ivanka was sitting right there.
It seems the Rosie O'Donnell versus Donald Trump battle will definitely continue, as it's unlikely either will back down. Granted, one could hope that at least one of them has more important things on their mind these days, but sometimes a decades-long feud can be hard to resist.
