Rosie O’Donnell Speaks Out About Daughter Chelsea’s Arrest: ‘This Is Not New for Our Family’

Rosie O’Donnell has spoken out about the recent arrest of her oldest daughter, Chelsea Belle O’Donnell.

“Sadly, this is not new for our family – Chelsea has struggled with drug addiction for a decade,” the O’Donnell family told In Touch on Saturday, October 19. “We are all hopeful she will find her way out of this deadly disease.”

Rosie, 62, also posted about the situation the same day by sharing an older photo of Chelsea.

“Chelsea is in the news today – this is a photo from a better time,” the League of Their Own star wrote via Instagram.

Chelsea, 27, was arrested on September 10 after authorities discovered her 11-month-old son in a home filled with feces, meth pipes and garbage, In Touch exclusively reported on Friday, October 18. She was charged with four felony counts of maintaining a drug trafficking place, child neglect, possession of methamphetamine and possession of THC on September 17, according to the court documents obtained by In Touch. Chelsea was also charged with two misdemeanors: disorderly conduct/domestic abuse and possession of illegally obtained prescription drugs.

Police received a phone call from Chelsea on September 10, according to the Marinette County Sheriff’s Office, and she could be heard telling officers to “get the hell away” from her. When officials arrived at the scene, they found Chelsea with “dilated” pupils.

While Chelsea told authorities that nothing was wrong, they questioned her about what they heard during the phone call and she eventually admitted to having a verbal altercation with her boyfriend Jacob Nelund.

“I tried to ask her more questions and you could tell that Chelsea was not being honest whatsoever,” the police officer said. “This was a repeat of what happened a few weeks prior when I was at her house for a similar incident.”

When the officers detained Chelsea, they discovered a meth pipe with meth residue in her pocket. It was then that the cops decided to check on the baby inside the home. When they entered the house, the officers encountered Jacob, who also had dilated pupils that “did not react to any sort of light.” Police discovered a marijuana pipe and Jacob admitted to having just smoked a bowl.

“His facial features were sunken in and he was missing some teeth. His muscle tone was very rigid and he seemed like he was flexing even though he was not. I asked him what other drugs he used today and he said that he only smokes marijuana. Based on my training and experience, I know that marijuana will not have this effect on your eyes. I have previously observed this type of impairment on someone that had smoked meth,” the police wrote.

Jacob also admitted to the verbal altercation that Chelsea mentioned, and he claimed that she locked herself in the bathroom.

While Chelsea was detained in the back of the police cruiser, authorities noticed she was grasping for something inside her pants.

“I watched her for a little and she kept moving her hands around, and it appeared that she was either digging into her butt or her vaginal area. I opened the squad door and asked her what she had on her or in her,” the police noted. “She denied having anything and claimed that the handcuffs were starting to hurt her, so she was moving around.”

Chelsea later pulled out a small black vial from her bra that contained “a white crystal-like substance that [he knew] to be meth” along with a clear plastic bag of pills. The meth weighed 18.050 grams and Chelsea claimed that the pills were Alprazolam, commonly known as Xanax.

Officers described the inside of Chelsea’s house as “disgusting” and said they saw “rotten food, dirty moldy dishes, milk that stunk so bad it almost made me puke, dirty diapers, used female hygiene products, unclean underwear with feces and blood stains and used razor blades on the floor.”

Police also discovered a box of hypodermic needles in the child’s room and some of the needles “had dried blood in them.”

“Inside the bedroom that appeared to be designated as [the child’s] room, there were numerous used hypodermic needles. Several of them were loaded with blood. There were old apples, garbage, random tools, and butane bottles sitting on the floor, all mixed with the clothing belonging to [the child],” one of the officers wrote, describing what they found.

The child was removed from the scene by Child Protective Services and handed over to one of Jacob’s friends for the time being.

In Touch obtained exclusive photos of Chelsea’s house the day she was arrested. The pictures showed a dilapidated house with a window screen falling from the front window, and there were piles of car tires located nearby. Various items of furniture, as well as a refrigerator, were also seen by the front door.

A hearing for Chelsea has been set for next month, and jail records do not show that she has been released at the time of publication.