Just days after Rosie O’Donnell learned that her ex-wife committed suicide, DailyMail TV has more shocking news for the one-time television talk titan.
Rosie, 55, is about to become a grandmother for the first time — but her own estranged daughter has vowed that the caustic comedienne will play no part in the upbringing of the child.
‘It’s very exciting and I’m looking forward to it. But Rosie will not be in my child’s life — and no, I do not feel sad about that to be honest,’ Chelsea Alliegro said.
Instead, she said she will consider Rosie’s first wife Kelli Carpenter and her husband’s mother as the child’s two grandmothers.
The 20-year-old, who Rosie adopted when she was three months old, shared the news of her pregnancy exclusively with DailyMail TV. She is now nine weeks pregnant with a due date in early May.
‘I really don’t care if I have a boy or a girl, I’m just hoping for a healthy baby. Nick would really like a boy,’ heavily tattooed Chelsea said, referring to her husband, Nick Alliegro, who is 12 years older than her.
‘But as far as I am concerned so long as it’s healthy that’s what matters.
Parents-to be: Chelsea Alliegro, 20, has revealed she and her husband Nick Alliegro, 31, are having a baby due next May
Chelsea’s pregnancy means Rosie O’Donnell is set to become a grandmother for the first time, but Alliegro says the comedienne will not be a part of her baby’s life
The 20-year-old also opened up about the recent suicide of O’Donnell’s ex-wife Michelle Rounds, 46, who Chelsea described as a ‘sweet, loving person’ (Chelsea pictured with her mom, siblings Vivienne and Blake, and Rounds)
‘When we went to the obstetrician they gave us a little bag with tiny diapers and a green onesie, which I thought looked like a boy’s color — but I think it was meant to be neutral.’
Chelsea, speaking at her new, sparsely furnished rented apartment in Texas, she also revealed that she was heartbroken after learning Rosie’s ex-wife Michelle Rounds had killed herself four days earlier.
‘I heard about it from my mother Kelli, she texted me. She told me that Michelle had committed suicide and she wanted me to know before I found out any other way.
‘I was shocked, it was very sad to hear about her death,’ she said.
She remembered Michelle, who had gone on to remarry since her own relationship with Rosie ended in 2015, for her love of clothes and her flowing red hair.
Michelle was living in Windermere, Florida, with her new wife Krista Monteleone and their infant daughter. She had attempted suicide shortly after her acrimonious split from O’Donnell, when she was found locked inside a hotel room after taking a cocktail of alcohol and pills.
Chelsea said her mother Kelli Carpenter, who is O’Donnell’s ex-wife, will be her baby’s grandmother
Chelsea said she knew little of that previous suicide attempt. All she heard is that Rosie and Michelle had gotten into a huge fight while on a Thanksgiving break at O’Donnell’s Florida home with Michelle’s parents.
‘The next morning when Rosie woke up Michelle and her family were gone. Rosie mentioned how upset she was waking up in an empty house with her wife gone.
‘That was the final break for her, there was no going back. I don’t know what the fight was over, but I do know it was a big thing for Rosie. She was very upset.’
It is not clear how Rounds killed herself.
Her parents, Roger and Gayla Rounds, who live in Addison, New York, placed an obituary which included a clear dig at O’Donnell.
‘Michelle’s family will hold a private memorial service. There will be no public services,’ they wrote.
‘Goodbyes are only for those with love in their eyes. Because for those who love with heart and soul there is no such thing as separation,’ they added, using a quote by the 13th Century Persian poet Rumi.
Roger Rounds told DailyMail TV that he and his wife did not have anything more to say about their daughter’s death or her relationship with O’Donnell.
The obituary asked for donations to the Desmoid Tumor Foundation. Michelle had suffered from the tumors and had been unable to have a child while married to O’Donnell. Eventually the couple adopted a daughter, Dakota, who is now four.
‘When Dakota came along Michelle was so happy, she had wanted a baby for so long and couldn’t have one of her own at the time, so she was overjoyed,’ Chelsea shared.
‘It’s very sad that two very young children have been left without their mother.’
Chelsea said Michelle had suffered from depression during her two-year marriage to Rosie, made worse by painkillers she had been given after her tumors were removed.
‘Even after she didn’t need them, she continued to take them excessively,’ Chelsea revealed. ‘She stopped leaving her bedroom and that caused a lot of tension in their relationship.
‘Rosie wanted to spend time with the family doing stuff that she loved and was upset that Michelle refused to participate.’
But Chelsea said she wanted to remember Michelle more as the ‘sweet, loving person she was.’
‘I lived with her for about a year. We got on really well,’ said Chelsea. ‘We used to ride horses together a lot, it was one thing that we had in common and it was really a special thing.
Chelsea has spoken publicly about her estranged relationship with her mom, alleging Rosie had been verbally abusive to her since she was 12
Michelle Rounds, 46, was found dead on September 11 after committing suicide – The two were married from 2012-2016
‘It gave me time to get to know her. Rosie couldn’t come with us because she is very allergic to horses. It was mainly time alone with Michelle but my 14-year-old sister Vivi would also ride sometimes.’
Chelsea had already been riding horses competitively when Michelle came into her life, so she ended up helping to teach her mother’s new wife how to ride.
Even on the occasions that Michelle took a tumble from her horse she would always laugh about it and get back in the saddle.
‘She enjoyed the challenge.’
In their obituary, Michelle’s devastated parents said about their daughter: ‘Not to be fooled by her appearance; Michelle was a high-class ‘tom boy’ who was a sharp shooter, enjoyed boxing, golfing and the great outdoors.’
But there was also another side to her: she loved pampering herself with pricey clothes, manicures and getting her hair done. Her glamour was in direct contrast to Rosie’s schlocky T-shirt-and-baseball-cap look.
‘They were very different people and they did their own things most of the time,’ said Chelsea. ‘But when they were together they seemed happy, they got along pretty well.
‘I guess opposites attract.
Chelsea revealed she lived with Michelle Rounds for about a year while the 46-year-old was married to Rosie, and said the two would often ride horses together
Tough time: Rounds previously attempted to commit suicide in 2015 with pills and wine, but was saved when a friend had security kick down the door to her hotel room (Pictured: Chelsea (far right) with her siblings Blake, (first left) Vivienne (center), Rosie, Michelle, and two Broadway actresses
‘Michelle loved to shop,’ said Chelsea remembering a time when the two of them were in Manhattan visiting Rosie at work. ‘She dragged me 15 blocks to Saks Fifth Avenue to get a pair of shoes she had had her eyes on.’
Even at home, watching television, Michelle never liked to be seen looking anything but perfect.
‘She would wear sweat pants, but I’m pretty sure they were designer sweat pants!’ said Chelsea.
She said she last had contact with Michelle shortly after the split, but Michelle had told her she couldn’t speak as Rosie had an order preventing her having contact with any of the children.
‘She said that if I wanted to contact her I had to go through a bunch of lawyers and find a way around it. Michelle was pretty much taken away from me.’
Rosie herself had told Chelsea back in January that Michelle was expecting a child with her new wife. It was one of the last conversations with the woman who had adopted her as a three-month-old.
‘She told me that Michelle had remarried and was three months pregnant then.’
Chelsea told DailyMail.com that she had played a small part in Rosie and Michelle getting together. She was in the hospital in New York City and on her way for a visit, Rosie popped into a Starbucks to grab a coffee.
There, on line, was Michelle and her Pomeranian, Roxie, and the TV star struck up a conversation with her about the pooch.
‘In the hospital she told me that she had run into a woman who had a dog, I am sure she was just trying to make me feel better. But she didn’t tell me they had exchanged numbers though until a week later when she said she was going out to dinner with her.’
Chelsea has had a fractious relationship with Rosie for years and it has completely broken down. At 17 she ran away from the home they shared in Nyack, New York, with her dog Bear. She married Nick in July last year after she discovered she was expecting. That pregnancy ended in a miscarriage.
Earlier this year Chelsea told DailyMail.com how Rosie had allegedly attacked her with a wine bottle when she discovered she had gotten a tattoo of the word ‘Breathe’ on her side shortly before her 18th birthday.
‘She was holding (the bottle) above her head and coming after me in her room. She kept trying to run after me and saying that if she really wanted to she could kill me, she’s that strong,’ Chelsea said at the time.
She also said Rosie had been verbally abusive to her since she was 12.
Rosie responded with a lengthy statement in which she claimed her daughter was mentally ill, having been hooked on heroin at birth. She said her allegations were ‘unfounded, untrue and desperate,’ and that Chelsea was ‘not capable of truth or reason.’
Earlier this year Chelsea told DailyMail.com how Rosie had allegedly attacked her with a wine bottle when she discovered she had gotten a tattoo of the word ‘Breathe’ on her side shortly before her 18th birthday
‘Rosie and I don’t have a relationship any more. I don’t think it can ever be mended. I really don’t think there is any hope for our relationship.’
Chelsea is the second of O’Donnell’s five adopted children. ‘I don’t currently talk to any of my siblings,’ she revealed.
‘I hope to speak to them eventually but I don’t want to push it. They stopped talking to me and then I lost all their numbers,’ she added.
She and Nick moved to Texas with Bear just days ago to start a new life, away from the New York area where they had previously lived.
‘We wanted a change,’ she said. ‘To move somewhere new and start making memories. We don’t know anybody here at all. It’s a completely new start, and it’s great.
‘I’m working on getting signed up for school. Nick is a plumber, he is working for a company.’
She married Nick Alliegro, 31, in July last year after she discovered she was expecting. That pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. After moving out of her family’s home in Nyack, New York, Chelsea has since relocated to Texas to start a new life with her husband and the child they are expecting in May next year