Rosie O’Donnell claimed late director Penny Marshall urged her to “lose 20 pounds” on the set of “A League of Their Own.”
The former talk show host made the revelation while discussing how her recent 60-pound weight loss has changed her life.
“It’s very strange to just buy a pair of jeans that fit. When I would do late-night, my biggest concern wasn’t my set — it was, did I look fat?” she told People.
“On ‘League of Their Own,’ Penny Marshall didn’t help by saying, ‘Rosie, I want you to lose 20 pounds.’ I’m like, ‘You think I carry it around for fun, Penny?’” O’Donnell, 64, recalled.
“When I look back, I go, ‘God, I wish I could have enjoyed the size I was.’”
The former “View” host — who began taking Mounjaro to treat her Type 2 diabetes in 2023 — said she feels “much healthier, more powerful in my own physicality,” despite being “the same weight” as she was during the movie.
In January, O’Donnell shared her experience filming the cult classic under Marshall, whom the “Flinstones” actress called a “woman’s sports freak” and “feminist.”
“I think she didn’t like to think of herself as a feminist. She was older than me, and I don’t know that she wasn’t an ardent feminist like me,” O’Donnle shared on the “We Can Do Hard Things” podcast at the time.
“She was kind of a closeted feminist in some ways. She didn’t necessarily want to have the banner, but she really supported women and women’s sports and women athletes in a way [like] no one else that I had met,” she added.
The “Rosie Show” alum said Marshall “made a profound impact on women’s sports in the history of the United States because of that movie.”
“I mean, I see little kids coming to my door dressed as me [for Halloween], and they don’t know [I’m Doris Murphy],” she added, referring to her character in the movie.
Marshall died at the age of 75 in December 2018 from heart disease and diabetes.
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