Michael Cohen and Rosie O'Donnell: a love story

For years, Donald J. Trump has hurled insults at him. Now, she is best friends with her former enforcer.

The text arrived on Michael D. Cohen's iPhone Monday morning, shortly before he took the stand in a Manhattan courtroom as the star witness in the criminal case against his former boss, Donald J. Trump: “breathe – relax – tell the truth – you got this – I love you. "

An hour later, another message arrived from the same person: "You are fine."

"Thank you and I really love you," Mr. Cohen replied to the sender, who was neither his wife, nor one of his children, nor another family member, but the actress and actress Rosie O'Donnell.

Politics, the cliché goes, makes strange bedfellows. But few relationships seem as unlikely as the intense bond that has developed between Mr. Cohen and Ms. O'Donnell, two Long Island natives of the same generation who were drawn into Mr. Trump's force field of mannerisms. very different years ago, and who connected as they assessed the damage afterwards.

It is not lost on Ms O'Donnell, 62 , that Mr. Cohen, 57, once helped carry out Mr. Trump’s project. insult campaign against her, tormenting her for her looks and weight and calling her "wacky."

The story of their friendship is that of a celebrity from New York and Long Island. aspirations, boastful personalities and inflated egos. It involves a prison visit, Barbara Walters, Twitter insults, forgiveness and a kind of shared world weariness.

"We talk and communicate regularly," Ms. . O'Donnell said Monday during a lengthy telephone conversation. "I know it's been a tumultuous time, so I'm checking in. It's a big thing to be able to change the entire country in one way or another."

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode, please exit and sign in to your Times account, or subscribe to the entire Times.

Thank you for your patience while we let's check access.

Already subscribed?