Rosie O’Donnell’s daughter Chelsea O’Donnell has filed to change her name following her multiple arrests last year.
Chelsea, 27, submitted paperwork to legally change her name according to court records viewed by Us Weekly on Thursday, April 10. The request was made in late January and a hearing is scheduled for May of this year.
The Daily Mail was first to break the news. The outlet reported that Chelsea wants to change her last name back to her birth mother’s maiden name, which is Neuens. (Rosie adopted Chelsea as a baby in 1997.)
Us has reached out to Rosie for comment.
Rosie O’Donnell hasn’t shied away from publicly discussing the challenges her daughter Chelsea O’Donnell has faced over the years. After Chelsea was arrested in November 2024 for the third time in as many months, Rosie took to Instagram to address her daughter’s legal troubles. “So yes this is true – after being bailed out by […]
Rosie, 63, and Chelsea have had their fair share of ups and downs over the years. The actress recently shared a lengthy poem via her Substack page that was titled “My Daughter Chelsea.”
“She wants her privacy / I am her mom / The story is out there / People judge and ask / Why didn’t u try more … / U should have done something else … / I would never have … / if she were mine,” the poem read.
The piece also mentioned that Chelsea had two additional mother figures, her birth mother and Rosie’s ex-wife, Kelli Carpenter.
Chelsea Belle O’Donnell, Rosie O’Donnell Courtesy of Rosie O’Donnell/Instagram
“Every adoption story is complicated / Nuance and subtext / A primal wound / Sometimes doesn’t heal / Her story is her own to tell / And now — almost 28 years old / She wants a private life / She deserves one too,” the poem continued.
Rosie also referred to Chelsea’s legal trouble and her daughter’s struggles with substance abuse. (Chelsea was arrested three times in 2024 on multiple felony charges, including drug possession. In December 2024, Chelsea was ordered to maintain her sobriety while out on bail.)
“Her journey / Made public by a series of bad decisions / On everyone’s part / When she was a young teen,” Rosie’s piece reads. “Some things are hard to come back from / Why don’t u talk about her more / How can I / What would I say.”
Rosie O’Donnell has broken her silence on her daughter Chelsea O’Donnell’s third arrest. “So yes this is true,” the actress, 62, wrote via Instagram on Tuesday, December 3, alongside a screenshot of a reporter reaching out via email for comment on Chelsea’s recent arrest. “After being bailed out by her birth mother — Chelsea was […]
Rosie — who is also mom to Parker, 29, Blake, 25, Vivienne, 22, and Clay, 12 — shared that Chelsea wanted to change her last name to “her birth mom’s maiden name.” While the decision doesn’t “make sense” to Rosie, she vowed to remain supportive of her daughter.
“It’s not about me / I am here for her — She’s not here for me / A wise woman once said / A few months ago / A judge in Wisconsin / Told her he was proud of her / She had completed treatment,” she penned.
Rosie also applauded Chelsea for earning her high school diploma and being on the path toward recovery. The League of Our Own star revealed that Chelsea gave her permission to publicly share the poem and included a photo of her daughter smiling while in court.
