Comedian-actress Rosie O'Donnell will join the cast of ABC
Family's The Foster when the second half of the show's
freshman season returns in January.
The 51-year-old, openly gay O'Donnell will play a woman who works
for the foster care system and becomes a mentor to one of the Foster
siblings.
“My 10-year-old daughter Vivi loves the show,” O'Donnell
said in an interview with SiriusXM Progress. “She’s a big
fan of that whole network, ABC Family. And consequently I've been
watching nearly all the shows on there. But once I saw that one, I
was really touched by it and I realized that [actor] Peter Paige, who
I know from when I did Queer as Folk, is [an] executive
producer. So I tweeted about it and texted him congratulations.
And, the lovely, lovely guy that he is, he said, 'Would you be
willing to do a recurring arc on the show?' And I said, 'Totally.'
So, I'm very excited.”
The Fosters, which is executive produced by Jennifer Lopez,
stars Sherri Saum (Rescue Me) and Teri Polo (Meet the
Parents) as a married lesbian couple in San Diego coping with
raising three children when a wayward teenage girl – a foster child
– is added to the family.
(Related: Jennifer
Lopez to be honored for her gay rights advocacy.)
O'Donnell added that she's on the fence about whether she supports
a boycott of the Winter Olympics taking place in Sochi over a Russian
law that prohibits “gay propaganda” to minors.
“I have really mixed feelings about it. Part of me feels yes,
we should boycott it. And part of me feels trepidation about all
those athletes, some of whom are gay, who have spent their entire
lives waiting for this moment that only comes once every four years.
Would it be better if America went there and everyone wore a rainbow
flag on their arms? I don't know. It's a very tough decision. You
know, when I hear those stories about what's going on in Russia, you
know, we have to remind ourselves of the amount of gay bashing that
happens in our country. Although ours is not sanctioned by the
president – you know, Putin seems to be very pro-gay-bashing – it
still occurs in our country at a rate that is shameful,” O'Donnell
said.