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Rosie O’Donnell reveals the touching reason she had her 13-year-old child’s handwriting tattooed on her wrist

Rosie O’Donnell reveals the touching reason she had her 13-year-old child’s handwriting tattooed on her wrist

The comedian opened up about adjusting to her youngest child Clay’s they/them pronouns, and the permanent reminder she chose to help her get it right

Credit : Rosie O'Donnell/Instagram

Ruairidh Pritchard

Published: August 12, 2026 at 9:43 AM

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Rosie O’Donnell has revealed the sweet, and very permanent, way she’s helping herself remember her 13-year-old child Clay’s pronouns.

Speaking to Amy Poehler on the <em>Good Hang with Amy Poehler</em> podcast, the mum-of-five explained that Clay uses they/them pronouns and admitted that remembering to use them hasn’t always come naturally.

“It really matters to them. And I know it matters to them,” Rosie told Amy.

When Clay first told their mum they wanted to use they/them pronouns, Rosie said she was determined to get it right, but found herself repeatedly slipping back into using “she”.

Clay, however, came up with a brilliantly simple way of correcting her.

“They wrote on a cardboard paper, ‘they,’ and then they would hold it up above their head every time I said ‘she’, like John Cusack in <em>Say Anything</em> with the boombox just staring at me,” Rosie recalled.

Rosie eventually decided she needed an even harder-to-miss reminder.

The 64-year-old took Clay to her cousin’s tattoo shop, where she had the word “they”, written in Clay’s own handwriting, tattooed permanently onto her wrist.

She explained that she wanted it somewhere she could see it so she “would never forget” and hoped Clay would be moved by the gesture.

Their reaction? Perhaps not <em>quite</em> what Mum was expecting.

Rosie joked that Clay “could not care less”.

There was another very relatable moment during the conversation, too. While explaining how important it was to her to get Clay’s pronouns right, Rosie accidentally used the wrong pronoun again and immediately caught herself.

“I just did it again,” she said. “In the ‘they’ story, I messed it up.”

Amy was quick to reassure her, saying she loved that Rosie was “constantly correcting in real time”.

It was a refreshingly candid exchange about something many parents will recognise: wanting to support your child, getting things wrong despite your best intentions, correcting yourself and carrying on.

<h2>Raising an autistic child taught her ‘patience and introspection’</h2>

The tattoo wasn’t the only time Rosie opened up about her relationship with her youngest child during the podcast.

Elsewhere in the conversation, Rosie described Clay as autistic and said parenting them has changed the way she looks at herself.

“My autistic child has taught me patience and introspection,” she said, adding that Clay has encouraged her to think more deeply about her own reactions and experiences.

Rosie also revealed that Clay inspired the title of her one-woman show, <em>Common Knowledge</em>.

The story goes back to when Clay was around 8 and the pair were watching <em>Jeopardy!</em> together. After correctly identifying the Mariana Trench, Clay apparently dismissed their impressive knowledge as “common knowledge”.

When Rosie asked what that meant, Clay replied: “It’s things everyone should know, but not everyone does.”

They then reeled off a series of extraordinary facts, leaving their mum suitably stunned.

Rosie later described her show as, in part, “a love letter to Ireland and to Clay”.

<h2>Rosie O’Donnell opens up about dating while raising an autistic child</h2>

Rosie also spoke candidly about her love life, and why dating hasn’t always felt straightforward while raising Clay.

When Amy mentioned that Rosie had previously said she would like to fall in love again, Rosie admitted that she has found it difficult to balance a romantic relationship with parenting her youngest child.

“It’s really hard with Clay because that’s my primary relationship,” she said. “So I haven’t really known how to do both.”

Rosie also explained that she has been wary of bringing someone into her life who might have strong opinions about the way she parents Clay.

“I also didn’t want someone telling me their opinion on how to raise an autistic child,” she said. “Because until you have your own, you don’t really know what the topography is like.”

Amy agreed, pointing out that every parent has to go through the process of learning who their child is and what they need.

The exchange offered another candid glimpse into how Rosie’s relationship with Clay has shaped other parts of her life, not just her approach to parenting.

While Rosie has said she would like to find love again, she made it clear that her relationship with Clay remains her priority.

<h2>Rosie O’Donnell is a mum of five</h2>

As well as Clay, Rosie is mum to four adult children: Parker, 31, Chelsea, 28, Blake, 26, and Vivienne, 23.

She has previously spoken openly about how important becoming a parent was to her, saying that having a large family was something she had wanted throughout her life.

Her latest conversation with Amy offers another glimpse into her relationship with her youngest, including the funny, complicated and imperfect moments that can come with learning how best to support the person your child is becoming.

And while not every parent will go as far as getting a reminder tattooed onto their wrist, Rosie’s experience captures something many mums and dads can relate to: parenting isn’t always about getting everything right first time. Sometimes it’s about listening, learning, correcting yourself when you get it wrong and continuing to try.

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Ruairidh PritchardDigital Growth Lead

Ruairidh is the Digital Lead on MadeForMums. He works with a team of fantastically talented content creators and subject-matter experts on MadeForMums.