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Rosie O’Donnell talks about first series regular role on Showtime’s ‘SMILF’ and (almost) avoids mentioning Trump

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Aug. 8, 2017, 7:46 p.m.

Rosie O’Donnell talks about first series regular role on Showtime’s ‘SMILF’ and (almost) avoids mentioning Trump

Rosie O'Donnell of "SMILF" speaks onstage at the Showtime portion of the Television Critics Assn. summer press tour on August 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, CA. (Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images For Showtime)
Rosie O’Donnell of “SMILF” speaks onstage at the Showtime portion of the Television Critics Assn. summer press tour on August 7, 2017 in Los Angeles, CA. (Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images For Showtime)

In her 30-plus-years career, Rosie O’Donnell has tackled stand-up comedy, Broadway, film, hosting a talk show and publishing among other endeavors. But on Nov. 5 the Long Island native marks a milestone: her first series regular role on television.

In the new Showtime dramedy “SMILF,” O’Donnell plays Tutu, the mother of the lead character played by Frankie Shaw, who created the series, based on her Sundance Film Festival Jury Award-winning short film.

Shaw’s character Bridgette lives in South Boston and is navigating single motherhood, dating and other issues and O’Donnell’s character is definitely one of her issues.

“My agent sent me the short films that Frankie did, and I was blown away by both of them,” O’Donnell told reporters during the Showtime portion of the Television Critics Assn. summer press tour on Monday on the Paramount lot. “My agent said very meekly on the phone, ‘This is not really an offer. You have to talk to her on Facetime.’ I was like, ‘Get that woman on Facetime. Let’s see what we can do.’”

The show is semi-autobiographical for Shaw, and O’Donnell spent Thanksgiving with the creator-star and her family, including her mother, in Boston and found a lot of common ground.

“My mom died when I was 10,” said O’Donnell, “so to see what would have been my mother’s life in Frankie’s mother was kind of a beautiful and healing thing for me. You know, it’s working-class Irish people, and that’s who I was growing up, and that’s who you remain, I think. And it felt familiar, loving and really authentic.”

“By the end of the night,” recalled Shaw, “my mom said, ‘Rosie, there’s no one else I would want to play me.’”

“I’m really thrilled for me as an actress,” said O’Donnell, noting she has often played roles close to her own personality. “It’s a role of a lifetime.”

It will also allow her to explore issues of mental illness, which she is eager to do “in an accurate and realistic way.”

“I suffer from major depressive disorder and PTSD, and I’ve been medicated since April 1999, right after Columbine. World events seem to be big triggers for me,” said O’Donnel. “There are so many millions of people in the United States who don’t get the help that I was lucky enough to get and don’t medicate themselves in a manner that’s going to be beneficial to their long-term health, and I think that Tutu never really had the ability or the support in her community and because of her age to go talk to someone and to get the kind of help that she needs, so we will be dealing with that concept as well.”

Although the panel began with a joke from Showtime President and CEO David Nevins noting that time was limited so questions about U.S. presidents should be kept to a minimum, O’Donnell -- who was in great spirits -- didn’t quite make it to the end without referring to President Trump, with whom she’s had an antagonistic relationship for years.

After getting laughs and good responses throughout the panel -- including to her famed impression of friend Penny Marshall -- O’Donnell expressed her gratitude, saying she hadn’t been onstage for awhile and quipped that Trump has rallies for similar reasons of validation.

Although “SMILF” marks her first series regular character, O’Donnell has done quite a bit of television over the years in addition to her talk show and stint on “The View,” including roles on everything from “Gimme a Break” in the ‘80s to “Difficult People” earlier this year.

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