Rosie O'Donnell On Her New HBO Family Documentary & How Son Parker Changed Her Life

Despite her breakup from her partner of 11 years, Kelli Carpenter, Rosie O'Donnell is determined to keep her family together.

Now, in a brand new interview, Rosie, who beamed with pride with son Parker beside her, revealed to Access Hollywood's Maria Menounos, why her split is not tearing her family apart.

"Listen, we're a family," Rosie told Maria.

"It's different with gay women," Rosie continued. "I'd like to tell you it's as dramatic as a hetero-sexual break-up, not that it's not as painful or that it doesn't require as much emotional work, but you know, the gay women that I know have the women they used to be [with] still in their lives in some capacity. Kelli and I will always be a family and we love each other very much and we want the best for each other and it's all OK. I know that's hard for a lot of people to believe, but there it is."

"Well, I believe it," Maria said.

"That's the way gay women do it," Rosie said.

And when Rosie's new documentary "A Family Is A Family Is A Family: A Rosie O'Donnell Celebration," premieres on HBO on January 31, viewers will get an intimate look inside her family that will always include her now ex, Kelli, in the documentary. In the film, Rosie beautifully showcases the diversities of today's modern family.

With her adorable 14-year-old son Parker by her side, Rosie moved Maria to her tears, describing how she once explained adoption to her then young boy.

"He used to say 'Did I grew in your tummy?' and I said 'No, you grew in my heart,'" Rosie recounted. "He said, 'Well, it feels like I grew in your tummy,' and I said, 'You're right, it does feel like you grew in my tummy.'

"I said, 'You know, you grew in someone else's tummy and God looked inside and he knew that you were going to be raised by a different mommy. God picked me, and your birth mommy listened.' And he said 'Yeah, 'cause me and you, we're a good match.'" Rosie said, turning to Parker during the interview with Maria. "Do you remember that?"

"No," Parker, now 14, replied.

"But we are a good match and he knows this and I've told him already [that] he's the greatest thing that's ever happened to me in my entire life and I'm forever grateful he is the boy who changed it all," she said.

And having Rosie as a mom has changed Parker's life too – especially now that he's a little older.

"I heard you said in [your HBO] press conference that it was cool to have a celebrity mom cause it helps you pick up chicks. Is that true?" Maria asked.

"I don't think I meant it that way, but that helps also. I meant like having two moms," he laughed.

"He said having two moms and two nannies really helps in the dating area because he's got a lot of women around and it doesn't throw him," Rosie clarified.


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