American comedian and actress Rosie O'Donnell has shared how she sprang into action to assist "a 90-year-old woman" who started choking during dinner in Dublin.
The 63-year-old, who moved to Ireland earlier this year with her 12-year-old child, had just wrapped up a set at the International Comedy Club, where she was honing her act for her upcoming 3Olympia Theatre show and Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
After the show, she headed to a nearby eatery for dinner with her cousin Mary and her friend Kiki.
Calling herself a "hyper-vigilant person", she recounted the incident to her TikTok followers, explaining how she noticed an elderly woman in distress.
"I see a 90-year-old woman choking," O'Donnell told her followers. "She's with two women who are in their 50s, I'd guess. And I jump into action like I'm an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) – which I'm not, I'm a stand-up comedian and actress.
"So I'm eating my tuna tartare and I go, 'That woman is choking, that woman is choking!' I get up, nearly knock over the table, and run over with Kiki and my cousin Mary.
"We run over to the woman and stand her up. We put Kiki behind her, and I put her fist in the right place. She starts to give her the Heimlich, which she hadn't done before.
"I'm holding her hands and talking to her, saying, 'It's okay, it's okay. Can you breathe?' I put my hand near her, and she could not breathe at all.
"She started getting caught red in the face. My heart is going and I'm one of those people who is great in a crisis, but after the crisis I'm a mess."
The woman's daughters had become upset with the stress of the dramatic incident but were quickly relieved when O'Donnell began to instruct her friend Kiki on how to carry out the Heimlich manoeuvre.
"My cousin Mary put a napkin in front of her and told her to get it out," she added. "I pushed Kiki's hand, and she got it, and something came out, a big wad of stuff.
"It was unbelievable to me. I was thinking, 'Am I going to have to do a tracheotomy?' Because I took a course and they told you what to do if it wasn't working and you were in a dire situation – and we were in a dire situation.
"In panic mode, I go into thinking I'm Superman or something, and I'm not. I'm not an EMT. But when I see something like that, I spring into action."
O'Donnell shared that the woman, named Angela, went back to finishing her meal and said the events that unfolded were "unbelievable".
"We were all kind of in tears, and I was doing my best to stay composed," she said.
"I say, 'God bless you and God bless all of us that we were able to help each other'. So I go back to my table and I can't eat."
She continued: "I can't eat, I'm teary. I look over and there's Angela finishing her meal! God love her, it was unbelievable."
In a recent interview on Sunday with Miriam on RTÉ Radio 1, O'Donnell said that she "didn't take it personally" when US President Donald Trump said he might revoke her US citizenship.
