Rosie O'Donnell: 'A Family is Forever'

The red carpet is an unusual spot to hang out with your ex – unless you're Rosie O'Donnell. Last week, at the New York City premiere of her documentary A Family Is a Family Is a Family: A Rosie O'Donnell Celebration, the comedian happily posed for photos alongside her four children – and Kelli Carpenter, her partner of 10 years whom O'Donnell only recently revealed she'd separated from in 2007.

"What makes a family is love, and we all love each other," O'Donnell, 47, told People Magazine. "We're gonna stay together and take care of each other as a family unit."

The definition of a family is at the heart of the comedian's documentary, which premieres this Sunday on HBO at 7 pm ET and features interviews with kids who come from all different types of families: ones headed up by a mom and a dad, two moms, two dads, as well as a mother and a grandmother. Adoption and surrogacy are also discussed.

"It's just children telling the truth about how they live and how it is for them," says O'Donnell.

A Family also includes new songs by artists including Ziggy Marley and They Might Be Giants, covering everything from love to in-vitro fertilization.

Adjustments and Challenges

O'Donnell says she was inspired by the popular 1970s album and TV special Free To Be … You and Me, created by Marlo Thomas. "We took that model and just applied it to family instead of equal rights," explains O'Donnell.

The comedian herself appears briefly in the documentary with her daughter Vivienne, 7 (her other kids Parker, 14, Chelsea, 12, and Blake, 10, are seen in video footage), and addresses her split with Carpenter. She also acknowledges how it's "difficult for families to adjust and changes are challenging." (Her next documentary, she reveals, will tackle divorce.)

These days, the exes live near each other in Nyack, N.Y. – Carpenter also has an apartment in New York City – and are raising the kids "equally," says O'Donnell, who hosts "Rosie Radio" on Sirius XM. (She also penned the forward to the upcoming book The Sound of Hope by Lois Kam Heymann, a speech-language pathologist. Heymann has worked with Blake, who has auditory processing disorder, a learning disability.)

Adds O'Donnell, "You have to really look at the four kids and realize that family is forever, which we both believe and it makes it a little bit easier."

Her family may be expanding, too: She says her girlfriend Texas-based artist Tracy Kachtick-Anders, 45, is "hopefully moving to Nyack" with her six children, ages 6 to 18.

"Our group of kids together is like the Brady Bunch on steroids," O'Donnell jokes. "Or the Gay-dy Bunch."

For more on O'Donnell, her family and life with her new girlfriend, pick up the latest issue of People, on newsstands now.

Rosie O'Donnell: 'Lesbians Stay Connected After Divorce'

Rosie O'Donnell's 'divorce' from longtime partner Kelli Carpenter was smooth and drama-free because neither partner wanted to fight and lose touch with each other.

The A League of Their Own star insists women can always find a way to split graciously because they always want what's best for everyone involved.

O'Donnell split from Carpenter in 2008 and it was over a year before news of the break-up hit the headlines - and the former chat show host puts that down to the fact both she and her ex wanted to work it all out amicably.

She says, "We tried very hard to make it work in different configurations... It's not really the same paradigm as heterosexual divorce. It's different.

"I'm not trying to say it's (lesbian divorce) better... Women usually, in relationships, that emotional connection is really the most intense, and so when they break up, I have found, they stay connected.

"Every woman I've ever been with, besides one, is still in my life."

Appearing on the Oprah show on Monday, O'Donnell revealed she split from Carpenter because the two were drifting apart.

She says, "What you want and need at 30, which is when I met Kelli... is very different to what you want and need at 40 and 45, and in some ways we both came back to our authentic selves and who were were... wasn't as great of a match."

Rosie O'Donnell Steps Out with New Girlfriend

Rosie O'Donnell is off the market!

The comedian and former TV talk show host – who in mid-November revealed that her longtime partner Kelli Carpenter moved out of their home two years ago – is now dating Tracy Kachtick-Anders, a Texas-based artist, O'Donnell's rep has confirmed.

The pair were spotted walking hand-in-hand in Miami Beach on Tuesday.

Last month, when asked if she was enjoying the single life, O'Donnell, 47, said, "I'm not. But on we grow, so to speak."

And in October, in an interview with http://www.examiner.com/, Kachtick-Anders said, "Maybe for a future plan, I'd like a date with an inspiring woman!"

Like O'Donnell, Kachtick-Anders is active in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender parenting and adoption issues. She launched Open Arms Campaign, a non-profit organization to recruit and foster adoptive families that targets the LGBT community. "I have become an activist and work to educate everyone, not only about the plight of foster children," she wrote on TheRainbowBabies.com, "but also the inequality that faces LGBT people in their quest to create families." Kachtick-Anders has six children, five of whom are adopted, according to the Examiner.com.

O'Donnell, meanwhile, is gearing up for the airing on HBO in late January of A Family Is A Family Is A Family: A Rosie O'Donnell Celebration, a documentary that challenges the traditional ideas of family.

Rosie O'Donnell Does Not Enjoy Being Single

Living single is less than rosy for Rosie O'Donnell.

"I'm not [enjoying the single life]," O'Donnell said on Monday at Rosie's Broadway Extravaganza annual gala. "But on we grow, so to speak."

Earlier this month, O'Donnell revealed on her SIRIUS Satellite radio show that her longtime partner Kelli Carpenter had moved out two years ago.

Accompanied at the gala by her son Parker, 15, the former View co-host side-stepped other questions regarding her personal life but says that through everything, her four kids are doing "very well."

Her friend Judy Gold says O'Donnell waited two years to let the public know of the split because of her children. "She has the kids," said Gold. "I think she's entitled to her private life and that’s what it is, private."

Although O'Donnell may not enjoy being single, Gold said that "Ro" is getting by just fine: "She seems happy and grounded. She's in the drivers seat here."

O'Donnell's annual Broadway Extravaganza, held in New York City, is a fundraiser for her arts education organization, Rosie's Kids.

Rosie Admits Partner Kelli Moved Out Two Years Ago

Rosie O'Donnell may have said last month that she was done commenting on breakup rumors dogging her relationship with her partner of five years, Kelli Carpenter, but that changed Friday.

On her Sirius Satellite radio show, O'Donnell suddenly admitted Carpenter had moved out of their home two years ago. The reason for the big reveal? A pressing psychic and a long-haired chihuahua.

"Where did you get her from Rosie? Because she says she came from somewhere. And she said she’s happier with you," pet psychic Sonya Fitzpatrick said of O'Donnell's dog Misty. "She's so spoiled and she loves to burrow."

O'Donnell confirmed: "She does! She burrows in the bed right next to me."

And, when asked who "sometimes looks after her," O'Donnell explained her four children all fight over caring for the pup, which she got three days after Carpenter left. "What happened [was] when Kelli moved out two years ago, I got the dog. Because I wanted another child or something to love. And I got the dog."

On October 20th, O'Donnell told USA Today, "We're a family, we remain a family ... Kelli and I love each other very much, and we are working on our issues. Those are the only words I am ever going to say. Ever. And that is something that has been agreed upon by all parties."

Seems puppy love changes everything!

Rosie O'Donnell Opens Up About Love Split

Rosie O'Donnell has spoken out about her split from partner Kelli Carpenter, a week after reports suggested the pair was living apart.

The actress and TV personality appeared on DJ Howard Stern's radio show on Monday to talk candidly about her personal problems, admitting she and Carpenter were "working through a lot of the stuff that we have".

She added, "We have come to a point where we are seeing (if) what will make everyone happiest is maybe to not live together, but continue to parent. We have different styles of living. I’m very messy. She’s very not."

But when Stern pried into the exact cause of the split, O'Donnell insisted the separation had nothing to do with sex, stating, "Kelli and I have a lot of issues and sex wasn't one of them."

Carpenter, who wed O'Donnell in 2004, reportedly moved out of the couple's home with the pair's youngest child.

Last week, O'Donnell released a statement about the split, which read, "We're a family, we remain a family and we're working on the issues. Kelli and I love each other very much and we are working on our issues.

"Those are the only words I am ever going to say. Ever. And that is something that has been agreed upon by all parties. But everything's fine and everybody's good and we're still both raising them (their children) together. We will both continue to parent them and we're friendly and everything's all right."

Rosie O'Donnell Acknowledges Issues with Spouse

Rose O'Donnell says that she and her spouse of five years, Kelli Carpenter, are undergoing rough patch in their relationship – and passes up a chance to refute speculation that Carpenter has moved out of their home in Nyack, N.Y., and into an apartment in Manhattan.

"We're a family. We will remain a family forever. And we are working on our issues," O'Donnell, 47, tells USA Today in an interview conducted Tuesday.

"Kelli and I love each other very much and we are working on our issues," a tearful O'Donnell says, emphasizing that the couple's four children are "a priority." "Those are the only words I am ever going to say. Ever. And that is something that has been agreed upon by all parties. But everything's fine and everybody's good and we're still both raising them together. We will both continue to parent them and we're friendly and everything's all right."

When asked about the reports that Carpenter, 42, had moved, O'Donnell simply repeated her first statement.

"We're a family, we remain a family and we're working on the issues," she said again.

The interview took place in O'Donnell's home in the suburbs of New York, and Carpenter was not present.

Rep Denies Rosie O'Donnell and Partner are Splitting

Contrary to tabloid reports, Rosie O'Donnell and longtime partner Kelli Carpenter-O'Donnell are not breaking up, the TV personality and comedian's rep told People.

"There is no truth to this – at all," says O'Donnell's rep.

Reports have surfaced that the couple, who got married in 2004 and have four children together, split up a few months ago and have been living separately.

"This is ridiculous," says the rep. "I get this rumor every time Rosie travels for work. Right now she is on tour with Cyndi Lauper."

O'Donnell, 47, and Carpenter, 42, "are raising four children – together," adds the rep.