By Nina Metz, Chicago Tribune –
CHICAGO — After less than a year in town, Rosie O’Donnell is leaving Chicago, according to the Huffington Post. The site reports O’Donnell is taking her five-month-old talk show to New York, where she lives full time with her fiance and children.
The report comes just days after the talk show host put her Lakeview neighborhood home on the market for $2.5 million (she reportedly already has a buyer).
The move implied that the talk show was on its last legs. Though O’Donnell’s publicist has denied any concerns, the show has had an exceptionally tough time building an audience on the Oprah Winfrey Network despite numerous changes to the format and set.
The Huffington Post report suggested that, among other troubles, O’Donnell was having difficulty enticing celebrity guests to travel to Chicago. At least 30 staffers were let go earlier in the year. O’Donnell’s reps and those from OWN did not respond to the Tribune’s requests for comment.