Rosie O’Donnell’s daughter is haunted by an episode with her ‘drunk’ mother during which the actress locked the teen in her bedroom, tried to pull off her clothes to see her tattoo, threatened to hit her with an empty wine bottle and told her she could ‘kill her’.
In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, Chelsea O’Donnell says the May 2015 attack was the beginning of two years of ups and downs with her mother which has culminated in an estrangement she now feels is irreparable.
Chelsea also revealed that she and boyfriend Nick Alliegro, 31, secretly got married last July after she found out she was pregnant.
But the newlyweds suffered a devastating blow weeks later when Chelsea had a miscarriage.
Scroll down for video and Rosie O'Donnell's response
Chelsea O'Donnell, 19, said her relationship with her adoptive mother took a bad turn shortly before her 18th birthday in 2015
Nick Alliegro, 31, met Chelsea in November 2015 at Dunkin Donuts in Long Island. They began dating and moved into together a few months later. They are now married
The teen (pictured with her mom and siblings in 2015) says O'Donnell chased her with a wine bottle and threatened to hit her after the actress learned she had a tattoo
‘I told Rosie about the miscarriage but she never seemed to care or even asked any questions, like it didn’t matter to her,’ Nick told DailyMail.com.
Chelsea, who was adopted by O’Donnell when she was a baby, says problems with her mother began shortly before her 18th birthday in August 2015. Three months earlier, she had the word ‘Breathe’ tattooed on her side. O’Donnell was incensed.
‘It was pretty late at night,’ Chelsea said. ‘A couple of weeks prior, I had gotten a tattoo. She [O’Donnell] had spyware on my phone so she could see pretty much everything I did.
‘She called me into her room and asked me about the tattoo. I denied it.
‘She asked me to take off my clothes - she didn’t know where it was - to show her and I refused.
‘She picked up a wine bottle and started chasing me, trying to take off my clothes.
'She told me if I didn’t show her, if I tried to leave, that she would hit me with the wine bottle, call the police and tell them that I had attacked her.
‘She was holding it 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.
Inked: Chelsea now shows off her various tattoos on both arms, but said her mother chased her said 'if she really wanted to she could kill me' if Chelsea didn't show her
Chelsea, 19, said her relationship with her adoptive mother took a bad turn shortly before her 18th birthday in 2015
‘She ended up pulling my shirt up and seeing it. Then I left. I didn’t see her for the rest of the night.’
Chelsea said that the wine bottle was in O’Donnell’s room ‘because she was drinking as she did frequently’.
The TV star, 55, didn’t hit her but ‘she came really close,’ Chelsea said. The teen didn’t go to the hospital with injuries nor did she contact the police.
‘I felt it was her word against mine and why wouldn’t they believe her over me?’ Chelsea said.
‘I didn’t go to the police because of who she is. She would have tried to say I was crazy and they just wouldn’t believe me.’
Chelsea’s younger brother and sister, Blake and Vivienne, were next door while it was going on. ‘They were in their rooms but they heard it,’ she said.
Chelsea didn’t tell family or friends what had happened but told her therapist. She is unclear if O’Donnell told her other mother, Kelli Carpenter, who separated from the star in 2007, or Carpenter’s new wife Anne Steele.
Chelsea claims that her mother never apologized or talked to her about the threatening incident.
Chelsea's rocky past with Rosie has cost Chelsea her relationship with her siblings Blake, Vivienne and Parker (left to right) and says she would love to reconnect with them but fears her mother would try to contact her
The 19-year-old said Blake and Vivienne (pictured) had been in the room next door when she and her mother had an altercation
The teen admitted that O’Donnell had been violent with her in the past – once hitting her while she was at boarding school.
‘When I was 13, 14 and I was at boarding school in Utah, I had gotten into trouble and I was in a locked room.
'She had come to see me and they let her in. We started arguing because I didn’t want her there,’ Chelsea recalled.
‘She got really close to me. I tried to push her away from me and she hit me. We started fighting more until she was asked to leave.
‘A few years later, she apologized and said she regretted doing that.’
Chelsea added: ‘Since I was 12, Rosie has been verbally abusive and that was something I didn’t like, making me feel that there was something wrong with me.’
O’Donnell had told Nick that she had hit Chelsea. ‘She mentioned to me that she hit Chelsea and regretted it,’ he said.
‘Me and Chelsea had a fight during the summer and she said: “Nick, I understand that people fight, but never get physical because I’ve gotten physical with Chelsea and I regret it.” Her exact words.’
Nick and Chelsea secretly married last year after she learned she was pregnant. The teen later suffered a miscarriage and claims her mother never visited her in the hospital and took away her car after her ordeal
Nick told Dailymail.com the TV star once revealed to him she 'regretted hitting Chelsea'
Chelsea said that O’Donnell hit her older brother, Parker, with a dictionary when he was a teenager.
‘Everybody [in the family] talked about it and now they joke about it,’ Chelsea said.
The 19-year-old has decided to speak for the first time about the actress’s violent outbursts because she is frustrated that the star presents a different image to her fans than exists behind closed doors.
ROSIE O'DONNELL'S RESPONSE
Rosie O'Donnell asked DailyMail.com to print this response in it entirety
louise
chelsea is mentally ill
has been in and out of hospitals most of her life
born addicted to heroin -
she has had a tough road
as for her comments -
i assume u r paying her -
which is why she is selling these tales to you
unfounded - untrue - and desperate
do what you like louise -
as this is the job u have
but know
she is very sick
she is not capable of truth or reason
she has not been in touch with anyone
since her husband tried to extort 9000 dollars from this family
the day after the lesion in her frontal lobe was detected
she then did an inside edition interview for money
and disappeared
and now has a story for u
as a mother - my request is that u not pay her
and leave her alone
as her self hatred grows
after each sold lie
it is comforting to know
she is still alive
so thank you for that part
if u use any of this e mail in ur story
i request it is in its entirety
rosie
truth inside truth
March 4, 2017
my 19 year old daughter adopted by me at two months old was once again paid by inside edition to talk about her life and me
chelsea left my home in august 2015 at 17 and has not spent a night under my roof since she has been to rehab two times since going both times she left early AMA
each time with the assistance of nick alliegro who married her in 2016 in secret she was 18 – he was 30 he has kicked her out many times since then
chelsea attempted suicide on labor day she refused rehab treatment went to wisconsin alone to live with her birth family
nick allegro picked chelsea up there in wisconsin shortly before christmas in late december nick was arrested for domestic violence
chelsea agreed to attend SILVERHILL hospital the doctors there found a hole in her frontal lobe most like from a stroke in utero this severely compromises her cognitive abilities and always has
and in some ways i hope – frees her from the debilitating shame she struggles to life thru daily
she left SILVERHILL in feb against medical advice and until last nights inside edition we had no idea if she were alive or dead
no one from inside edition called me no one tried to tweet me i had the EPs phone number in 14 minutes
===============================================
Rosie O’Donnell: charles lachman – this is rosie o’donnell my daughter has an IQ of 86 she has a hole in her frontal lobe she left SILVERHILL hospital AMA last month no one has seen or heard from her
had u the BASIC HUMAN DECENCY – to reach out and ask b4 u ONCE AGAIN PAID HER MONEY – money she will use for drugs
Charles Lachman I can call you at 10:15 to discuss. I’m on a crowded Amtrak train right now.
Rosie O’Donnell:
what is wrong with u charles – have u no heart – no children – no basic humanity shame – truly – on u
my daughter is probably shooting up – from ur easy money – enjoy ur train ride CHARLES LACHMAN
the plumber husband… did u even look – he was arrested for domestic violence in jan
theres ur f***ing story thanks charles thank u from a 55 yr old mother of 5 w/drug compromised children
and charles – it took me 20 mins to get to u – someone could have easily reached me had u tried
============================================
we spoke shocked to find him an adult of 63 i expected a 40 something metrosexual
i yelled his defense my publicist threatened them – over the phone the first time they interviewed chelsea
YES THATS HER JOB – i screamed to keep predatory press from my mental compromised adolescent daughter
she was not at boarding school as u reported the first time she was in residential treatment nearly her whole life
i googled u chuck after we hung up impressive work as an author with children of ur own
may they always be healthy and should they not lets hope the toxic tabloids don’t feed on them
nancy glass is famous i am sure there would be a way to sell that story and some p***k would give your sick child money
ur heart would break chuck
and u would wonder what you could do to save her from men like u
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CHELSEA AND NICHOLAS RESPOND TO ROSIE
Chelsea says:
'I am not mentally ill and i have no self hatred and am not doing this for the money. Rosie doesnt know me and ahe never will again. She is a cruel narsasistic vengful woman who doesnt care for anyone but herself and her writing that on her website just shows how shallow hateful she really is.'
Nicholas says:
'That is an all time low even for her that just shows what kind of person she is and for the record the only difference between her comments and ours is that ours is true and that's why she is reaction because the truth hurts.'
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‘She does things that are going to make her look good. She lied about kicking me out by saying that I’m missing and making everyone all worried,’ Chelsea said.
‘She tries to make people think I’m just crazy and she’s this great mother that’s trying to save her daughter when none of that’s really true.
‘I feel like she’s been very dishonest and done things that have really hurt me and my life. I want to clear things up and get the truth out.’
Chelsea referred to the August 2015 incident which became a national news story and put her at the center of a police rescue operation.
She has long maintained that - contrary to reports she ran away from home and was in danger – O’Donnell kicked her out of the family home in Nyack, New York and knew where she was the entire time.
The incident happened several weeks after her mother threatened her with a wine bottle.
‘I didn’t want to fight and I just didn’t want to talk,’ Chelsea recalled. ‘I guess she didn’t like that and thought that I would end up leaving on my own eventually, so she told me to leave.
‘I was gone for a week and she knew where I was. The week after I left, she told everyone that I was missing and went to the police.’
On August 18, O’Donnell posted a message to her website about her concern for her daughter who she said had run away from home.
‘Nyack, New York police authorities have been looking for her in the Rockland County area since Sunday, August 16. She was last seen Tuesday, August 11. She was wearing a black sweatshirt hoodie, dark ripped blue jeans, women's grey converse sneakers and a black backpack.
'Chelsea has a large tattoo on her right side of a dream catcher with the word 'Breathe.' She left home with her 6 month old therapy dog named Bear. The dog is a 9 lbs brown and black terrier. Chelsea stopped taking her medicine and is in need of medical attention,’ she wrote online.
Chelsea said: ‘She knew. She was talking to me when I was down [in New Jersey].
‘She had called the person I was with too. The day after she had kicked me out, she had gotten in contact with that person.
‘A few days after, she had called me and told me she had known where I was because she had looked at my phone messages.’
On August 18, the police found Chelsea, then 17, unharmed, at the New Jersey home of 25-year-old Steven Sheerer, whom she met online.
Rosie O'Donnell reported her daughter missing in 2015 - but Chelsea told Dailymail.com her mother had kicked her out of the house and allegedly knew where she was the entire time
Chelsea said: 'She does things that are going to make her look good. She lied about kicking me out by saying that I’m missing and making everyone all worried,'
Sheerer had previously been convicted of possessing controlled dangerous substances and child endangerment after a 2013 incident in which he was arrested with heroin and marijuana while in a car with a woman and her two children. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years' probation.
The police involvement led to Sheerer being charged with third-degree endangering a child and third-degree distribution of obscenity to a minor. The latter was the result of a nude photo Sheerer sent Chelsea on dating app, Tinder.
Sheerer's attorney, Robert Tarver, told the Associated Press at the time that the relationship between the pair was consensual and began on Tinder, where Chelsea had identified herself as being aged 19.
At Chelsea’s request, the charges were dropped several weeks later.
An Ocean County Police spokesman said at the time that O’Donnell had reached out to thank them personally for her daughter’s safe return.
The reality was much different, Chelsea says.
‘I returned home for an hour. She had my bags there and told me to leave. As if she’s the concerned mother when really she kicked me out. My friend was there to pick me up and I stayed with her and her mother for a week.’
Chelsea said she has spent some time reconnecting with her biological mother in Wisconsin and has reached out to her father as well
Chelsea decided to visit her biological mother, Deanna Micolley, who she had been getting to know for several months on the phone. She spent a week with her and her four step-siblings in Wisconsin.
She last saw them in November. ‘I haven’t spoken to her recently but the last time I saw her, things were good,’ Chelsea said.
The teen has also been building a relationship with her biological father, Lance Schilling, but is taking it slowly. ‘I’ve tried talking to him a few times and it’s going okay.’
Chelsea met Nick Alliegro in November 2015 at a Dunkin’ Donuts in Long Island. The couple began dating and moved in together a few months later.
At the start of their relationship, O’Donnell made Nick a strange offer without her daughter’s knowledge.
Nick said: ‘When we started dating and I went to Rosie’s house for the first time in November, she was very nice to me. She even told Chelsea she liked me.
‘But she mentioned that it would be good if I ended things with Chelsea and convinced her to move back home.
‘She even threw out the idea of paying for my apartment for the year and helping me out financially which I turned down.
‘I told her that wasn’t an option and we wanted to stay together.’
He added: ‘She said that if I wanted to take on that responsibility [of Chelsea] then my life would be chaos. It just felt negative.
‘She told me Chelsea was incapable of loving someone else and “the best doctors in the country said she would be unable to love. So do yourself a favor and walk away,” - Things a mother should never say about their daughter.
‘I knew something was off from the beginning. I tried to look the other way because I knew how badly Chelsea wanted her siblings in her life.
‘I wanted to help patch things up with her even though there was friction the whole time because Chelsea never wanted to patch things up with Rosie.
‘If it wasn’t for me, they would never have talked again.’
Chelsea found out she was pregnant last June and the couple decided to get married.
‘We both decided, which we don’t regret at all, that we wanted to rush things and get married before the baby,’ Nick said.
Chelsea chose not to tell her family.
Nick said: ‘I wanted to. She wouldn’t let me but I felt horrible for not.
Nick told Dailymail.com that O'Donnell told him to end things with Chelsea because her daughter was 'incapable of loving someone else'
‘We kept it tight. Not a lot of people knew – my mother, my brother and sister. I wanted to tell her side of the family but she didn’t want to.’
At the time, Chelsea had reconciled with her mother and was spending time, along with Nick, at O’Donnell’s Nyack compound.
It was then that Chelsea learned her mom had a new girlfriend, Dana Schiff, a Broadway actress and long-time friend who had separated from her investment banker husband, Scott.
Chelsea told DailyMail.com: ‘I’ve been there with them, had dinner with them and talked to them about it. They sleep together and spend weekends together.’
Chelsea and Nick married by themselves on July 1 at Islip Town Hall in Long Island and celebrated with a quiet dinner.
Their happiness was short-lived: Chelsea miscarried several weeks later. She remains unable to speak about losing her baby.
‘Early August, Chelsea had a miscarriage which was hard for both of us,’ Nick said.
‘After Chelsea had the miscarriage, she was just having a hard time coping with everything.
‘At the end of August, she went to the hospital. In the media it was said that Chelsea had an overdose which wasn’t true.’
When O’Donnell called the hospital for an update on Chelsea’s condition, a staff member inadvertently broke the news that her daughter had married.
‘Rosie called the hospital and was trying to get her status but they told her only her husband could get information,’ Nick said.
‘She had called me and asked me if it was true. I told her the truth.
O’Donnell appeared more upset about the marriage than Chelsea losing the baby, Nick said. The TV star never came to see her daughter in hospital – instead, she organized for Chelsea’s brother to come and collect a car she had provided for her daughter earlier in the summer.
‘Instead of asking how Chelsea was when she was in hospital, Rosie had her brother come to our apartment and take the car back. She also turned her phone off instead of coming to the hospital to check she was okay,’ Nick said.
‘I don’t know if it was because of me or having control over Chelsea because I think that’s what it all stems to.
‘She needs to have control over Chelsea and if she doesn’t it drives her crazy.’
The tension between the couple and O’Donnell was heightened by the fact that Chelsea had an undiagnosed brain lesion.
Chelsea said: ‘In September, I had MRIs and nothing came up in those tests. My headaches kept getting worse and I didn’t know what was wrong.
'Rosie had me get a different brain scan at a hospital in Connecticut in January. That’s when they found a lesion on my brain which they are now trying to fix.
‘I take medication that they think might fix it but [the doctors] aren’t sure.’
Nick said that O’Donnell blamed him for missing Chelsea’s illness.
She was cursing me out, saying that I was a piece of s*** because I didn’t see what was going on with Chelsea.’
The couple said they were grateful that O’Donnell stepped in to help with medical expenses - but even these came with a caveat.
The teen told Dailymail.com she plans to move out of New York with her husband to somewhere 'nobody is ever going to find us'
‘I wanted Chelsea to get the best medical care and Rosie refused to pay for it if we didn’t agree to get a divorce,’ Nick said.
‘As much as it killed me, we had to lie to her and convince her we would get a divorce so Rosie would continue to pay for Chelsea’s medical expenses so we could figure out what is wrong with her.
‘We told her that we were getting a divorce just so she would help with her medical.’
The relationship with O’Donnell broke down in January.
‘It was because of how she was treating Nick, being really cruel and blaming him for things that were not his fault,’ Chelsea said.
Nick added: ‘We always had a mutual respect for one another. I felt we got along fine, we always communicated.
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‘All I wanted was for Chelsea to have her siblings so I tried my best to help her patch things up.
‘I looked the other way for as long as I could and it got to the point that enough is enough.
‘She just has a way with words. It’s hard to explain the way she could try put down you verbally. She’s great with words, let’s put it that way.
‘I seen a side of her that I’d never seen before.
The last time I spoke to her on the phone the things she said were unbelievable. I could see what Chelsea was going through this whole time. It opened my eyes to what she’s been going through her whole life.’
The couple does not think a reconciliation with the TV star is possible.
‘I don’t think that there’s a chance of that with Rosie anymore,’ Chelsea said.
Nick added: ‘I just feel that there’s so much damage done.’
The couple don’t believe that O’Donnell has tried to reach out to them – although both have changed their phone numbers and deleted social media.
However, she does know where the couple lives on Long Island.
Chelsea said that she would love to be in contact with her four siblings but has her reservations.
‘No matter how bad I want to talk to someone else in my family, the second they have my number they give it to her,’ Chelsea said.
I don’t know if it’s because they’re scared but all their loyalty is there. I have Nick’s family.’
The couple is focusing on their future and is planning to move out of New York – but to where exactly, they wouldn’t say.
Nick said: ‘Life’s been good. I’m happy. Our lease is up so we’re looking forward to leaving New York. We are going to just disappear.’
‘Where nobody is ever going to find us, ‘Chelsea added.
She plans to finish her education online and hopes for a future career in law enforcement or special education. Down the line, the couple also still hope to have a family.
She said that her experiences had not put her off being a mother.
‘That’s something we both want and I’m looking forward to experiencing that,’ Chelsea said. ‘Just because Rosie’s a bad mother doesn’t mean that I will be.’