Rosie O’Donnell breaks silence on daughter’s arrest for child neglect and drug possession

Comedian and actor’s eldest daughter, Chelsea O’Donnell, is facing felony charges after she was arrested in September

Rosie O’Donnell has spoken out on her daughter’s recent arrests for child neglect and drug possession, saying that “sadly this is not new for our family.”

The 62-year-old comedian and actor’s eldest daughter, Chelsea O’Donnell, 27, was arrested in Wisconsin on September 17 and booked into Marinette County Jail. She was charged with neglecting a child, possession of methamphetamine, maintaining a drug trafficking place and several other misdemeanor drug charges, according to court records seen by People.

Chelsea – who O’Donnell adopted as a baby with her ex-wife Kelli Carpenter – was later released after posting a $2,000 bond.

However, she was arrested again nearly a month later on October 11 and booked into Oconto County Jail, where she is facing new felony charges of possession of methamphetamine, possession of narcotic drugs and bail jumping, in addition to misdemeanor counts of resisting or obstructing an officer and possession of drug paraphernalia.

She is scheduled to appear in court on November 4 and 7.

Rosie O’Donnell says her daughter’s recent arrests for drug possession are ‘not new’ (Getty Images)

Following the news of Chelsea’s arrests, O’Donnell took to Instagram on Sunday (October 20) to share a statement from the family, as well as an old photo of her daughter “from a better time.”

“Chelsea is in the news today – this is a photo from a better time – here is the family comment,” she wrote, alongside an old selfie of Chelsea with a baby lying on her chest.

“Sadly this is not new for our family – Chelsea has struggled with drug addiction for a decade – we r all hopeful she will find her way out of this deadly disease [sic].”

O’Donnell has had a fraught relationship with Chelsea over the years, with her daughter going missing from their New York home in 2015. Shortly after, the then-teenager was found safe by authorities. She then reportedly relocated to Wisconsin to live with her birth mother.

The A League of Their Own star eventually reconnected with Chelsea following the birth of her first child in 2018, with O’Donnell saying at the time: “She’s doing better now and we’re both communicating with each other.

“When somebody does something unforgivable to you and you can forgive them and they can forgive you, there’s a kind of grace that descends upon the both of you, within that.”

Chelsea has since welcomed three other children: daughter Riley in January 2021, daughter Avery Lynn in February 2022, and son Atlas in October 2023.

In addition to Chelsea, O’Donnell is a parent to four other children: sons Parker, 29, and Blake, 24; and daughters Vivienne, 21, and Dakota, 11. O’Donnell and Carpenter adopted Parker, Chelsea, and Vivienne before their split in 2007. The actor went on to adopt Dakota with her second wife, Michelle Rounds, but they divorced in 2015.