Rosie ODonnell has publicly expressed regret and disillusionment over her past support for former Democratic congressman and now-disgraced California gubernatorial hopeful Eric Swalwell, likening her sense of betrayal to the fallout from the Bill Clinton scandals.
In a TikTok video posted, ODonnell opened by asking, "Now can we talk a little bit about Eric Swalwell?" and proceeded to recount her prior enthusiasm for the California Democrat. According to Fox News, she told her followers, "I know that guy. In the What kind of way? Like, spoke to him on the phone a couple times, donated money to him, I believe. Talked about him in some public appearances years ago about how I believed in him, and his cute little family and two kids, and standing up to all those people when he, you know, berates them for their moralist behavior."
Her comments came after Swalwell announced Sunday that he would suspend his campaign for governor, followed by his declaration Monday that he would resign from Congress amid multiple sexual misconduct allegations. ODonnell, who has long aligned herself with progressive causes and Democratic candidates, admitted the revelations had shaken her trust in the political figures she once championed.
"And then all this comes out about him, and it's heartbreaking to me," she said, describing her reaction to the allegations. "You know? And I wrote him. I wrote him a little message and I said, 'You know, Bill Clinton broke my heart, and now you did too.' You know the conclusion I've come to? Men suck."
Clintons office did not immediately return Fox News Digitals request for comment, leaving ODonnells comparison to the presidents scandals unanswered. Her remarks underscore a recurring pattern in Democratic politics, where high-profile figures who present themselves as moral scolds or champions of womens rights are later engulfed in serious misconduct claims.
ODonnell went further, arguing that men are unable to control their "sexual urges," and suggesting that the Swalwell episode had stripped away any remaining political idealism she held. "And boy, that Eric Swalwell. You know, teaches you not to believe in anyone," she said, reflecting on her disillusionment. "For me, that's what it does for me. I don't believe in anyone. People have images and they sell themselves as one thing, but they're not that thing. They have complications like all humans do, right? They have addictions, they have impulses, they have frontal lobe disorder, they have narcissism, they have a spoiled privileged upbringing that warps their perspective."
Swalwell is now confronting a series of grave accusations, including claims that he drugged and raped one woman and sexually assaulted a staffer, allegations that have reportedly triggered at least two local criminal investigations. He has denied all the accusations, though he has conceded to having made unspecified "mistakes," a familiar political formulation that stops short of full accountability.
ODonnell herself has been an outspoken critic of conservatives and especially of President Donald Trump, whom she blamed for driving her out of the United States after his election in 2024; she now resides in Ireland. Her self-imposed exile, framed as a moral stand against Trump, contrasts sharply with her current anguish over a Democrat she once promoted as a principled public servant.
She revealed during a February interview that she had quietly returned to the U.S. for a brief visit without publicizing the trip. "I was recently home for two weeks, and I did not really tell anyone," she told Chris Cuomo during an interview on "SiriusXMs Cuomo Mornings," in mid-February. "I just went to see my family. I wanted to see how hard it would be for me to get in and out of the country. I wanted to feel what it felt like. I wanted to hold my children again. And I hadn't been home in over a year."
ODonnell added that she "wanted to make sure that it was safe" for her and her daughter to return over the summer so they could be with family during her daughters school break. Her remarks now, centered on betrayal and misplaced trust, highlight the cost of elevating politicians to celebrity status and treating them as moral authorities rather than fallible public servants.
As Swalwell exits the political stage under a cloud of scandal and investigations continue, ODonnells disillusionment reflects a broader crisis of credibility for a Democratic Party that has often claimed the moral high ground on issues of sexual misconduct. Fox News Digital did not immediately receive a response from Eric Swalwell's representative, leaving many questions about the full extent of the allegations and his conduct still unresolved.
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