Rosie O'Donnell's father dies
Rosie O'Donnell's father, Edward Joseph O'Donnell, has died of cancer, according to her publicist. He was 81.
The death Sunday of her father, with whom Rosie had a difficult relationship growing up but later repaired, capped a difficult week in which Rosie announced her teen daughter Chelsea had been missing for days. She was later found unharmed.
Michael Cohen, of O'Donnell's longtime public-relations firm PMK-BNC, confirmed her father's death. He is survived by five children, including Rosie.
Rosie O'Donnell has talked in the past about how her relationship with her father had been strained from the time she was 10, when her mother died of cancer, after which her father seemed to distance himself from his children.
An immigrant from Ireland, Ed O'Donnell had worked as an electrical engineer in Commack, Long Island, where she grew up, and later worked as an aerospace electrical engineer for Fairchild, Schlumberger and Grumman.
Rosie told CNN in 2012 that she later patched up things with her father.
"You get to be 50 years old you can't still be angry at what your father did in 1970," she said. "You have to work it out for yourself and find a place for it in your life and not rehash it forever."
A week ago Sunday, Rosie reported to authorities in Rockland County, N.Y., where she lives with her five children, that daughter Chelsea O'Donnell, 17, was missing, last seen on Aug. 11 with her therapy puppy, Bear. Her daughter, who lives with mental illness, had not taken her meds, Rosie said.
Rosie tweeted appeals to the public for help on Aug. 18, setting off a two-state search by police. Chelsea was found that evening in the Barnegat, N.J. home of a man, Steven Sheerer, 25, who has past drug convictions, according to Rosie's furious tweets.
Sheerer was arrested Friday and charged with distributing obscenity to a minor and "inappropriate" communications with a minor. Police searched her daughter's phone with Rosie's permission and found communications between Sheerer and Chelsea over the past several weeks.
He appeared in state Superior Court in Toms River, N.J., on Monday but did not enter a plea.
Sheerer's attorney, Robert Tarver, said he plans to present evidence that will show his client is not guilty. He declined to provide specific details.
"We believe we have strong evidence that there was no endangering here, and that it will show that what has been reported and what his role supposedly was is completely false," Tarver said.
Ocean County, N.J., prosecutors said that Sheerer sent a nude picture to Chelsea. They said his bail was set at $40,000, and he faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
Authorities seized a computer and other digital equipment at Sheerer's home when they executed a search warrant, but they did not disclose further details.
Aside from her father and her daughter, the comedian/actress/author and former TV talk-show host also had to contend this month with a re-ignition of the longstanding feud between her and billionaire Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination, who during a campaign debate doubled-down on his insults directed at her.
Still, another presidential candidate seemed to be sympathetic.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with @Rosie O'Donnell, who has lost her father to cancer," read the late Sunday tweet from an account for Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton.
Contributing: The Associated Press