Rosie O'Donnell Talks Life After Weight-Loss Surgery

Feb. 12, 2015— -- Losing weight has been only half the battle for Rosie O'Donnell.

"It's not like all of a sudden you change and, boom, you lose the weight, everything's fine, you got on a size 10, life is great. You're having amazing sex. Nothing is wrong. It doesn't work that way," O'Donnell told the "Dr. Oz Show" airing Friday. "So all of the stuff that you carry with you as a heavy person in the world will still be there when you're a thin person in the world."

O'Donnell opened up to host Dr. Mehmet Oz about her life after weight-loss surgery.

The "View" co-host said she tried every diet imaginable, including one followed by former President Bill Clinton.

"I went to the Internet and I looked up where Bill Clinton did that weird diet and I went on that diet. Basically, impossible, in my opinion, but I did that diet for a couple months," she said. "I went vegan for a couple months. I just couldn't do it."

Finally, after having a heart attack and nearly dying, she settled on gastric-bypass surgery despite her reservations.

"I had thought about gastric bypass before, but I was always concerned about some of the side effects," she said, confessing that her biggest fear was of "dumping," in which solid parts of a meal get "dumped" directly from the stomach into the small intestine without being digested.

"It was terrifying to me, who has a mild phobia of pee or poop in public," she said. "That’s me! I can hold it all day, haven’t gone since 6 a.m. Don’t worry I won’t wet the seat!"

Having lost more than 50 pounds, O'Donnell doesn't yet think of herself as beautiful.

"No, but I like when my kids tell me I am. I don't think that, but I think that I'm working on that," she told Dr. Oz.

O'Donnell is also making some big changes in her life. This week will be her last on "The View" and she is splitting from her wife of more than two years, Michelle Rounds.

In a video posted Monday, the 52-year-old comedian said, "The truth is, I had a heart attack two years ago and stress is very bad for a heart attack survivors."

Her goal now is to cut down stress and maximize her well-being.