Rosie O’Donnell Quits ‘The View,’ Splits With Wife

Rosie O’Donnell is leaving The View and her wife Michelle.

O’Donnell’s second stint on the ratings-challenged, long-running ABC daytime talk show will end next week.

As widely reported, The View, in its current incarnation, has been tumbling in the ratings. New cast members Nicolle Wallace and Rosie Perez, along with the recycled O’Donnell, have failed to give the show the boost that producers and the network apparently expected. Apart from what has occurred on camera, there have also been rumblings that O’Donnell and holdover host Whoopi Goldberg have clashed behind the scenes. Reports previously surfaced that Rosie Perez might be exiting the show after being absent from the set for much of January to appear in a Broadway play, but she has returned to the panel.

The View panelists Sherri Shepherd and Jenny McCarthy left the show last year, and matriarch Barbara Walters retired, but the replacements have failed to reverse the decline in viewership. In further bad news for ABC, The Talk on CBS has recently overtaken The View in the ratings.

In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter about Rosie O’Donnell leaving the show, an ABC official had this to say.

“Rosie is an immensely talented star who comes in each and every morning brimming with ideas, excitement and passion for the show. When she told us that she wanted to exit The View, we respected and understood her desire to put her well-being and her family first. We’re delighted she’s still part of the ABC family with upcoming guest appearances on The Fosters. And we know she’ll return to The View often with her unique point of view and updates on her work and her family.”

The O’Donnell exit from The View may well be related to the end of her marriage to Michelle Rounds. In a statement tonight, Rosie O’Donnell’s PR rep confirmed the breakup, according to the New York Post.

“I can confirm that Rosie and her wife Michelle split in November. Rosie has teens and an infant at home that need her attention. This has been a very stressful situation. She is putting her personal health and family first. ABC has been wonderfully understanding and supportive of her personal decision to leave The View. Next week will be her last.”

Rosie O’Donnell, 52, has five kids, one of which she adopted with Rounds, whom she married in June 2012.

Do you think Rosie O’Donnell’s departure from The View will be a positive or negative for viewership or, at this stage, does it even matter?

[image via s_bukley / Shutterstock.com]