Oprah Winfrey's cancelation of Rosie O'Donnell's OWN Network show last week didn't rain on the parade of O'Donnell's 50th birthday bash. If anything, it provided reason to amp up Monday night's celebrating.Arriving with her fiancée Michelle Rounds at the Paris Club's sexy upstairs lounge Studio Paris in Chicago – festooned in yellows and blues with lots of chandeliers – the birthday girl kicked things off by addressing her show's recent demise and encouraging her production team and other attendees to have a great time.
In addition to her Rosie Show staff, the show invited 50 women also turning 50 to attend, and they went wild when O'Donnell took the stage with the local favorite '80s cover band Sixteen Candles and rocked out on the drums to "Jesse's Girl." (Rosie clearly demonstrated she can play.)
Guests indulged in such signature Paris Club dishes as frites, lamb meatballs in Harissa tomato sauce, toasted cheese on brioche bread, tuna tartare Francais, short rib bourguignonne sliders and a variety of desserts.
Came time for the cake, who should show up but Mike Tyson – who taped an episode of The Rosie Show earlier in the day and changed his flight to make the surprise appearance, along with wife Kiki and 3-year-old daughter and his niece.
Tyson lead the crowd in "Happy Birthday."
Dropping the fact she was hoping to land the role of the comically mean orphan matron Miss Hannigan in the upcoming Broadway revival of the musical Annie, O'Donnell stayed close to Rounds and mingled with the guests all night, and even accompanied Sixteen Candles on "Don't Stop Believing."