Controversy seems to follow Rosie O'Donnell around like a Koosh Ball strapped to her ankle.
A 71-year-old widow (cue the violins) has sued the Rosie O'Donnell Show for $3 million claiming she was hit in the mouth by a "hard rubber ball" while attending a taping of the show.
Lucille DeBellis, a former New York City cop, was among the audience members pelted with Koosh Balls by O'Donnell staffers during a November 29, 2001, taping--a common practice on the duck-and-cover show. But DeBellis was not amused when one of the flying projectiles caught her squarely in the kisser.
Now she's suing the show's producer, Warner Bros., and parent company AOL Time Warner Inc, among others, for "negligence and emotional distress."
According to court documents filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, DeBellis experienced pain, swelling and bleeding in her gums. And, over the next few hours, she developed small lumps in her mouth despite being given ice to reduce the swelling at the studio.
Since then the elderly woman's had to shell out for cortisone injections to try to dissolve the lumps and taken steroids and antibiotics, which have caused "extreme stomach discomfort."
Worse, DeBellis' appearance turned her into a social pumpkin, spending Christmas 2001 home alone. Plus, "the pain and soreness around plaintiff's mouth adversely affected plaintiff's relationship with her boyfriend," say court documents.
Just last week, O'Donnell was trying to put out another fire when she reportedly offered to settle her $125 million lawsuit against magazine publisher Gruner + Jahr for the budget price of $10 million--an offer her former publishing partner refused.
According to an email from O'Donnell to G+J head honcho Axel Ganz, published by Fox News, the comic wrote: "Pay my legal fees (about $4 million), take the $6 million I invested in our magazine and donate it to a charity we agree on like the public school system in Manhattan or the NYC fire department."
The offer's expiry date, June 2, came and went without any word from G+J.
O'Donnell's been embroiled in a bitter lawsuit against the publishing giant ever since she pulled the plug on her eponymous magazine over editorial disputes.
After her departure, G+J slapped O'Donnell with a $100 million breach-of-contract suit claiming she abandoned a sinking ship. O'Donnell countersued accusing the publisher of trashing her Queen of Nice image. Presumably, the next round will play itself out in court.