Rosie Testifies In Magazine Spat

O'Donnell Takes the Witness Stand, Cites Battle For Creative Control

(CBS/AP)  Rosie O'Donnell took the witness stand Thursday to defend herself against a breach-of-contract lawsuit, saying she only agreed to start her now-defunct namesake magazine after being promised full creative control by the company now suing her.

O'Donnell was referring to a conversation with Daniel Brewster, chief executive officer of Gruner+Jahr USA, the company that published Rosie magazine from April 2001 through December 2002.

G+J is suing O'Donnell for $100 million, alleging breach of contract for walking away. O'Donnell is countersuing for $125 million, declaring that by cutting her out of key editorial decisions, G+J had violated its contract with her.

In testimony Thursday at Manhattan's State Supreme Court, O'Donnell said she was open to launching a magazine with her name on it. She said she had been impressed by the success of Oprah Winfrey's magazine, O, and was interested in a similar translation of her successful television show into print.

However, she said, she came away unconvinced after her first meeting with executives of G+J. They asked for another meeting, and Brewster persuaded her to go ahead.

"Mr. Brewster was quite passionate about the Democratic ideals I had espoused on my show," O'Donnell said. "He said I would add a much-needed voice to the world of women's magazines. He convinced me."

She said she was impressed when Brewster told her that his father was a Democratic U.S. senator, Daniel Brewster, of Maryland.

O'Donnell said one of her conditions was that she have creative control of Rosie. She said Brewster agreed and told her he would have control of the magazine's business side.

On Wednesday and earlier Thursday, Brewster testified that O'Donnell's inflexibility and controlling posture were the cause of much of the tension at the magazine during its final months and ultimately the cause of its death.

When O'Donnell left court Wednesday evening, she said Brewster had "threatened to ruin me, and he's trying to do it now."

G+J lawyers say O'Donnell destroyed the magazine because of a fight over which cover photo should be used for a feature on actresses from the cable television show "The Sopranos." The cover, showing O'Donnell standing between two of the actresses, was never used.

O'Donnell quit the magazine in mid-September 2002 following a monthslong dispute over editorial control, crystallized by the fight over the "Sopranos" cover shot.

Earlier Thursday, Daniel Rubin, G+J USA's executive vice president for strategic development and planning, said O'Donnell cost his company tens of millions of dollars by walking away from Rosie.

Rubin said he arrived at varying amounts by calculating two approaches — the "opportunity approach" and the "investment approach."

Rubin said the opportunity approach, "if Rosie had not walked out on us," includes half his estimate of the $67 million value of the joint venture plus some $1.5 million the company would not have had to pay in severance and shutdown costs.

The investment approach, Rubin said, includes the initial investment of $15 million plus some $12.3 million in additional investment, including "daily out-of-pocket expenses," free space to Rosie advertisers in other G+J magazines and other costs.

CBS News Correspondent Anthony Mason reports O'Donnell is already out $6 million. The publishers lost $25 million. And 100 people lost their jobs. Which as Mason observes, means nobody wins.