'To some people, I'm a scary monster': Rosie O'Donnell

It has taken one hell of a shock to motivate Rosie O'Donnell to return to stand-up comedy.

In August last year, the then 50-year-old actress, comedian and TV personality had a massive heart attack.

''It was terrifying,'' she says on the phone from New York. ''And I didn't go to the doctor for 48 hours - I didn't even realise I'd had a heart attack.''

While it seems unbelievable, O'Donnell discovered that women commonly don't call an ambulance or see a doctor for a heart attack.

''It's shocking,'' she says. ''Plus when they do get to the hospital, women are often told that they're having a panic attack and given a Xanax and sent home and then they die at home. And women have more heart attacks than men in the United States.''

O'Donnell suffered a 100 per cent blockage of the left anterior descending artery - an attack referred to as ''the widow maker'' - and was given a stent to help blood flow.

''They didn't understand why I didn't die,'' she says. ''Usually you die right away with this.

''I was in the critical unit and a friend of mine came to visit. I was half awake and she asked the nurse 'how is she doing compared to everyone else?' and the nurse said 'excellent'.

''My friend said 'how do you know?' and the nurse said 'because everyone else is dead!'

''She never had a patient survive what I had. That really gave me pause and I started to think about how close I was to not surviving and you know, my kids.''

O'Donnell has five adopted children - four with Kelli Carpenter, who she wed two weeks after San Francisco's mayor authorised same sex marriages in 2004, and a nine-month-old baby with current wife Michelle Rounds.

''It made me change a lot of the ways I was living and the stuff I was eating,'' she says. ''It feels like I was rebooted and started again at 51 years old.''

When she recovered, O'Donnell decided to contact other famous women who had suffered heart attacks for a public service campaign. But she discovered none were prepared to admit to a heart attack, worried that it would affect their careers, among other reasons.

''I thought that was shocking,'' she says. ''Women have heart attacks much more frequently than breast cancer. You can name five or six celebrities who have had breast cancer but you can't name one who's had a heart attack.''

While unable to get a public awareness campaign off the ground, O'Donnell started writing comedy again.

''After about a month or two, I was feeling better and I went to a local comedy club in my town and said 'can I do 15 minutes?' and I did that for a couple of weeks and realised, 'wow, I have a whole new hour-and-a-half here'.

''Stuff about what it feels like to be the mother of teenagers and then having a baby, talking about getting divorced and being a public figure and having your fame or notoriety kind of fade and change … a lot of topics that I have never discussed before.''

O'Donnell made a bucket list and touring Australia was near the top.

''I'm really excited, especially because for a long time I didn't realise much about Australia,'' she says. ''I thought it was like Austria: somewhere you go skiing.

''When Oprah did a show down there it really changed the opinion of a lot of Americans about Australia. We're really ignorant. We're really not taught about other countries very much.''

After beginning her comedy career when she was still in high school, O'Donnell got her real break on the talent show Star Search.

Before long she was landing roles in movies - among them Sleepless in Seattle, A League of Their Own and The Flintstones - and sitcoms. She was even a ''veejay'' on music channel VH1 before landing the talk show The Rosie O'Donnell Show, which won five consecutive daytime Emmys before winding up in 2002.

In 2006, after roles on TV programs such as Nip/Tuck, Will and Grace and Curb Your Enthusiasm, she joined the panel of the daytime chat show The View and became known for her candid opinions and left-wing politics. One of her biggest controversies, an on-air row about the Iraq war with conservative co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck, resulted in an early departure from the program.

O'Donnell says Australian audiences can expect some of this trademark acerbic style on stage.

''My style is the same but the content is different. Stand-up comics talk a little bit about public figures and the oddities in life and try to add relevance and poignancy but now it seems it all comes together sort of laced with … for lack of a better word, gratitude. And perspective on what it would've been like - what I would have missed.

''There are many things, like I go to my kids' soccer games or the baby does something and I think right away, 'I would've missed this'. Would I have known I was missing it? What would have become of me? Would I be lingering in the ether watching? I don't know!''

As well as writing two memoirs, editing Rosie magazine from 2000-2003 and blogging, O'Donnell is known as a spokeswoman on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex issues - she ''officially'' came out in 2002 - and for her philanthropy.

She recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of Rosie's Theatre Kids, a program that addresses arts funding cuts in New York public schools.

''It's very fulfilling. These kids come after school and get private drama lessons, tutoring, counselling, help with homework. I'm very, very pleased with what it's done for me personally as well, to get to know all these families that live in poverty here in New York City. Finally they have access to some of the best teachers and the kids just thrive.''

The cause resonates with O'Donnell, whose mother died when she was 10. She found comfort in drama.

''I wanted to be hands-on and do for the children what was done for me,'' she says. ''I had teachers in public school [who] took me into their family and did things for me that parents would normally do for kids, like come to my sporting events and encourage me. I wanted to celebrate public school and the kids who normally don't have an opportunity.''

Such arts funding cuts, O'Donnell says, are indicative of the political situation in the US.

''It's absolutely pathetic. There's no middle class any more. The rich people are totally in charge and corporations are having too much influence on the government.

''I think we're on the precipice of disaster in terms of our education system and healthcare - that whole insanity of the shutdown over healthcare. Healthcare is a basic human right! It's sad to think we're the richest country and we waste so much and don't take care of our own.''

One area where Australia lags behind is gay rights.

''Yeah, you got that new guy - he doesn't seem too promising,'' O'Donnell says of Prime Minister Tony Abbott. ''Sounds like Sarah Palin got elected down there! We've come such a long way here.

''As a 51-year-old woman to think that there are high-school kids now in my town who are gay and out and holding hands in the hallways and not being bullied and teased …

''I realise I live in New York and it's different in many places around the country but still, it's a pretty phenomenal amount of growth from when I was a child.

''My wife is nine years younger than me and often when we're out in public she'll just grab my hand and you know, often I kind of look around to see if it's OK or if it's safe … I don't have that any more, that anxiety. I feel like the government has finally said 'you are an equal citizen and you are allowed to love who you love'. It freed some part of me I didn't even realise was caged.''

Fans of O'Donnell's fiery style shouldn't worry too much: she's still got things to get shouty about.

''I'll still say things that'll piss people off, don't you worry about that! I think any comedian goes towards the things that anger them and they're able to twist into a way that gives you the comedy but the point still hits home.

''I'm not afraid to speak up about what I believe in. It's just my nature and has been since I was a little kid.

''Whenever my handlers tell me not to talk about something, it sticks in my head and it's the first thing that comes out when I reach for something.''

O'Donnell is routinely described as an overbearing loudmouth.

''It's mostly right-wing republican traditionalists who think that,'' she says. ''To some people, I'm a scary monster and to other people I'm, you know, I speak truth to power.''

■ Rosie O'Donnell appears at the Melbourne Plenary on February 8 and performs at the Star Event Centre on February 9. Tickets go on sale through Ticketmaster on October 21.