Rosie O’Donnell said she got a wrist tattoo of the word they to remember her nonbinary child’s pronouns, then kept using she by mistake.
Rosie O’Donnell’s pronoun tattoo became the latest awkward moment in the comedian’s family life after she said she got the word they inked on her wrist to help her remember her nonbinary teenager’s preferred pronouns. On Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast Tuesday, O’Donnell said the gesture was meant to keep her from slipping back into old habits, but she admitted she still kept referring to the child as “she” while telling the story.
O’Donnell said her 13-year-old child Clay, who came out as nonbinary in 2024, first helped her by writing “they” on cardboard as a reminder whenever she used the wrong pronoun. She said the note eventually inspired her to take the reminder a step further and have the word tattooed in Clay’s handwriting on her left wrist. The tattoo, she said, was meant to keep the pronoun lesson in front of her at all times.
Even with the ink, O’Donnell described the adjustment as difficult and said she had tried to use gender-neutral language but still made mistakes. She said the pronouns mattered deeply to Clay, yet she kept defaulting to “she” while explaining the family’s efforts. In her own retelling, she acknowledged the slip more than once, underscoring how hard the transition has been for her to keep straight in everyday conversation.
“Rosie O’Donnell said she got a wrist tattoo of the word they to remember her nonbinary child’s pronouns, then kept using she by mistake.”
O’Donnell also said she expected Clay to be moved by the gesture, but that reaction never came. Instead, she said the teen “could not care less,” a response that made the tattoo seem less meaningful than she had hoped. The comedian’s comments were delivered with self-awareness and embarrassment, as she laughed off her repeated mix-up even while describing the effort she made to show support.
Clay, who until recently went by Dakota, is one of O’Donnell’s children from her marriage to her second ex-wife, Michelle Rounds. O’Donnell adopted the child during that two-year marriage. Rounds later battled O’Donnell for custody before taking her own life in 2017. O’Donnell also has four other adopted children: Parker, Chelsea, Blake and Vivienne.
The conversation also fits into a larger chapter of O’Donnell’s life abroad. She has been living in Ireland since January 2025 and has described her move as a kind of political exile after President Trump’s 2024 election victory. For American readers, the story lands at the point where family identity, celebrity culture and the country’s broader fights over gender language collide. The takeaway: even a tattoo may not make a household’s pronoun transition easy, and the debate over how families navigate it is still very much in the open.
Frequently asked questions
Why did Rosie O’Donnell get the tattoo?
She said she wanted a permanent reminder of her child Clay’s they/them pronouns after struggling to remember them.
How did Clay respond to the tattoo?
O’Donnell said she expected a strong reaction, but Clay “could not care less.”
When did Clay come out as nonbinary?
O’Donnell said Clay came out as nonbinary in 2024.
Where has O’Donnell been living recently?
She said she has been in Ireland since January 2025 after President Trump’s 2024 election victory.
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