Rosie O’Donnell says weight loss came with ‘emotional turbulence’

Rosie O’Donnell, who took her dramatic weight loss mainstream Monday with the premiere of a revamped “The View,” had a confession to make after the show: Being thinner isn’t all daisies and unicorns.

“The fact that I look so different has been difficult and unexpected,” O’Donnell told ABC News. “Everyone assumes that obese people would just be jumping for joy that they were healthier and thinner and able to fit into store-bought sizes, we don’t have to go to the plus store.

“But it’s also filled with a lot of emotional turbulence you wouldn’t expect.”

The comic and talk-show host had gastric-sleeve surgery after she struggled to drop from her 230-pound starting weight by dieting following an August 2012 heart attack. The procedure left her stomach 20% of its original size.

In April, the 5-foot-7 O’Donnell posted before and after photos on Twitter, showing she’d achieved that doctor-advised weight loss.

“Almost 50 lbs off - I can see it,” she wrote at the time.

Now, she told ABC News, she participates in a group of women who’ve been through a similar experience and talk through the related feelings. Fortunately, her marriage to Michelle Rounds has stayed solid, she said, which doesn’t always happen when one partner has a dramatic physical change.

“Luckily, my wife is very healthy, always been healthy, loves me and encourages me to be healthy.”

As for “The View”? On Monday she was happy to have that first episode under her belt.

“I didn’t really have doubt, but I had anxiety about, would we be able to do it, but we did,” she told “Inside Edition” backstage. “So, as you all know, the first one’s the hardest, and then you’re OK.”

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