Rosie O'Donnell's father, Edward Joseph O'Donnel, has passed away after battling cancer on Sunday, August 23. He was 81.
The deceased father of the actress-comedian, Rosie, first moved to the U.S. from his home in Ireland and worked as an electrical engineer in Comack, New York City. Edward had also worked as an aerospace engineer and he had five children.
Reports say that the father and daughter relationship of Rosie and Edward was wholly stained, following the death of Rosie's mother, Roseann O'Donnell, who died because of breast cancer back in March 1973.
The 53-year-old actress said that after her mother's death, Edward became emotionally unstable and depressed, which pushed him to distance himself from the family, particularly from his children.
Rosie said, "He had his own issues and demons, he had a very tough childhood, he had an alcoholic, abusive father and never really got the help that I think every person needs when they have lived through that as a child. I think that he had a lot of problems to deal with."
Despite admitting that she has since forgiven her father for all his lapses, she has also put an emphasis that some of his doings as a father while raising her and her siblings were just "unforgivable".
"You get to be 50 years old you can't still be angry at what your father did in 1970," Rosie said. "You have to work it out for yourself and find a place for it in your life and not rehash it forever."
The 'Now and Then' actress, who also has five children went on to say that, "no matter what, at the end of the day, every child loves their dad."
It has been a tough week for Rosie O'Donnell, following her father's death, and another report which claimed that her 17-year old daughter named Chelsea was reportedly caught up in the home of an alleged heroin addict after she went missing for a couple of days.
