NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
A top official of publisher Gruner & Jahr testified Wednesday about a difficult phone conversation she had with Rosie O'Donnell the night the former talk-show host resigned from her now-defunct magazine.
The testimony came in the multimillion-dollar trial over who might be to blame for the failure of Rosie the magazine, published by Gruner & Jahr, a unit of Bertelsmann AG, until O'Donnell left the project 13 months ago.
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Cindy Spengler, Gruner & Jahr's chief marketing officer, testified that O'Donnell asked why Spengler was silent during a conference call between Gruner & Jahr CEO Dan Brewster, O'Donnell and herself.
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"When you're silent, it's as good as lying," Spengler recalled O'Donnell said to her. "Cindy, you know the truth," added O'Donnell, according to Spengler.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Spengler said she answered.
"Do you know what happens when people lie?" she said O'Donnell asked her. "They get sick and get cancer."
The 41-year-old entertainer's mother died of breast cancer when she was 10, which she's called the defining moment of her life.
The remark was a terrible thing to say and she regrets saying it, O'Donnell spokeswoman Cindy Berger told reporters during a 10-minute recess.
So far, attorneys for Gruner & Jahr have tried to describe O'Donnell as a fickle star who had to have her own way. But attorneys for O'Donnell are expected to focus their case on the magazine's circulation data when the trial continues Thursday.
Gruner & Jahr filed a claim for $100 million against the entertainer, alleging she acted unprofessionally and breached her contract when she pulled out of the venture in September 2002. O'Donnell countersued for $125 million, saying Gruner & Jahr took away her editorial control.
O'Donnell plans to testify in the much-publicized lawsuit later this week or next after Gruner & Jahr wraps up its presentation.
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