Rosie O'Donnell in Chicago

9/17/2011

Rosie O’Donnell, whose new Chicago-based TV talk show debuts next month, is under contract to buy a 6,000-square-foot home in the Lakeview neighborhood, according to two sources.

The home, which is listed for $2.5 million, is owned by a top executive of the Oprah Winfrey Network, or OWN, which will air O’Donnell’s new show, the sources said. On Wednesday, O’Donnell told the audience at a test taping of The Rosie Show, which premieres Oct. 10, that she was purchasing a home in Wrigleyville. The news seems to be a shift from her earlier comments to USA Today about commuting to and from New York, where she and ex-partner Kelli Carpenter share custody of their four children, rather than putting down roots in Chicago. But in her first blog post for the new show’s Web site on Sept. 9, O’Donnell wrote a poem, portions of which are an ode to the Windy City.

Two stanzas read:

“i have fallen in love with this city

and it came as a surprise

shocking — really

i knew nothing of chicago

its beauty is startling

the wide clean streets

smiling hellos

the buckingham fountain took my breath away”

At the Wednesday taping, O’Donnell noted that she had not yet experienced a Chicago winter, according to the attendee. The audience laughed. “I was hoping you all wouldn’t laugh like that,” she replied.