Rosie O'Donnell and girlfriend Michelle
Rounds are engaged to be married.
O'Donnell reportedly announced the news
to her The Rosie Show studio audience in Chicago during a
commercial break on Monday. O'Donnell's show premiered in October on
Oprah Winfrey's OWN network.
“They are looking forward to spending
the rest of their lives together,” an unnamed O'Donnell rep told
The New York Daily News.
“Mazel on your engagement,” Bravo's
Andy Cohen tweeted.
“Thanks Andy,” O'Donnell replied,
“I am very happy.”
During an interview with ABC's
Nightline before the premiere
of her new show, O'Donnell, 49, talked about meeting Rounds, a
New York City headhunter.
“I walked into a Starbucks in the
summer and she was holding a little puppy,” O'Donnell said. “I
thought she was a 28-year-old heterosexual girl, because that's what
she looked like to me. And she's a 40-year-old gay woman.”
“My gaydar was way off!” she said
with a laugh.
“I think if I had known that she was
gay, I wouldn't have been brave enough to talk to her,” O'Donnell
added.
This is the second marriage for
O'Donnell, who came out gay in 2002 and shares 4 children with
ex-wife Kelli Carpenter.
Us Weekly is reporting that
O'Donnell told her audience that she and Rounds will tie the knot
over Christmas.