andPOP - Pop Culture With Substance

Actress-turned-US TV personality ROSIE O’DONNELL was so scarred by the Columbine High School tragedy in 1999 she took to hanging upside down to improve her mental state.

The A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN star admits she was treated for depression after gunmen killed 13 people at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999.

She says, “I couldn’t stop crying. I stayed in my room. The lights were off. I couldn’t get out of bed and that’s when I started taking medication.”

O’Donnell, who will come clean about her past depression on US magazine show THE VIEW this Friday, admits she found yoga and “inversion therapy” helped lighten her dark mood, together with antidepressants.

And she still uses the inversion therapy to this day, hanging upside down by a swing for 15 to 30 minutes.

O’Donnell will demonstrate the odd therapy on The View as part of the show, which is dedicated to clinical depression.

The actress also reveals she suffers from seasonal affective disorder, often called SAD.

(c) 2007 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All global rights reserved. No unauthorized copying or re-distributing permitted.

US TV presenter ROSIE O’DONNELL raised fears about ANNA NICOLE SMITH’s health live on air on Thursday, just hours before the former Playboy Playmate collapsed and died in a Florida hotel room.

Speaking on TV show THE VIEW, O’Donnell alleged that Smith was dabbling in drugs and was clearly struggling with the heartbreak of losing her son DANIEL last year.

She said, “If I have to see Anna Nicole Smith on television one more time… She can hardly speak now.

“It’s a tragedy all around. Her son died. She has this little baby. Obviously some kind of medication or substance involved.”

Smith was found unconscious in her hotel room at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino on Thursday afternoon.

According to hotel officials, Smith was “unresponsive” and emergency crews performed CPR at the scene and a breathing apparatus was inserted in her throat.

Paramedics were seen pumping her chest as she was taken from the hotel and transported to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood. She died at 2.49 pm EST.

Smith was 39 years old and is survived by her baby daughter DANNIELYNN.

(c) 2007 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All global rights reserved. No unauthorized copying or re-distributing permitted.

Barbara Walters was so moved by a documentary by Rosie O’Donnell about a gay family cruise line, that she offered O’Donnell the job as co-host of The View on the spot.

Walters attended a screening of the documentary, and was seen in tears as she left the theatre, according to Fox News.

She then asked O’Donnell if she would replace Meredith Vieira, who was leaving to replace Katie Couric at the Today Show. O’Donnell said, “sure, call me.”

And if you were watching the Emmy Awards last night, you will know that it is now officiall: Rosie O’Donnell is coming back to daytime television.

The set of The View, according to Fox News, will be redesigned and Rosie will be seated in the middle.

Walters and O’Donnell walked side by side and announced the move, that she will replace Vieira starting in September.

“Well, thank God, because it was either that or Celebrity Fit Club,” O’Donnell said. Zing.

Connie Chung and former Everybody Loves Raymond actress Patricia Heaton were also reportedly up for the job. (Why couldn’t Patricia replace, say, Star Jones? Not that I’ve ever watched an episode of The View, but ?)

O’Donnell ended her popular daytime talk show five years ago.

“here we go,” O’Donnell ended a brief posting on her blog. (Spot a capital letter in her blog and win!)

It’s almost like the NBA trade deadline of year’s past, where everyone was going everywhere. Follow closely:

Katie Couric’s contract with team NBC (she was playing for The Today Show) is just about up and she’s heading over to CBS, where she will anchor the Evening News. (It’s sort of like when Tracy McGrady left behind max money with the Raptors, refusing to deal with them, and signing with the Orlando Magic.)

Meredith Vieira has asked for a trade from ABC’s The View, and was granted a release. She will replace Couric over at NBC’s morning show. (This is like when Shaq wanted out of Los Angeles and was granted a trade to Miami.)

And now comes word that Rosie O’Donnell, the former talk show host, is coming out of retirement, just like Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, and will replace Vieira on The View. (Don’t they already have Star Jones? Too Low? Sorry.)

Extra first reported the signing on Thursday, and it is expected to be officially announced on Friday’s show or by executives at a news conference later in the day.

O’Donnell quit her immensely popular and beloved daytime talk show in 2002, around the same time she announced she was a lesbian, begging the question, can both straight and lesbian women love Tom Cruise? She decided to spend more time with her adopted children and partner.

American actress Rosie O’Donnell spoke out on the results of Canada’s Jan. 23 federal election, which saw the gay-friendly Liberals fall to Stephen Harper’s Conservatives.

“It?s a very sad day for Canada when the Liberal government has been ousted by the Republican Right,” the openly gay O’Donnell told reporters during an interview for her new film, All Aboard! Rosie’s Family Cruise, a Sundance documentary.

O’Donnell made it clear she believes Harper may take away gay rights in Canada.

“Liberal in this country has become a negative word and it is not,” she said. “It’s a beautiful word. It means inclusiveness, and it means lack of judgment and equality and, you know, to have a Liberal government for 15 years should be the goal of every nation. And I just hope Canada doesn’t lose its soul.”