Rosie O'Donnell is happy and in love

Rosie O'Donnell will have the support of a new girlfriend as she returns to television.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• "I did not expect it when I met her at Starbucks," Rosie O'Donnell said


• "It's fun and very exciting," she said


• "[The hormones] have made a drastic difference," O'Donnell said

() -- The Queen of Nice is back -- and happier than ever.

will have the support of as she returns to television with her new nightly talk show, "The Rosie Show," which , OWN, October 10.

"I did not expect it when I met her at Starbucks," O'Donnell, 49, tells PEOPLE of falling for I.T. headhunter Michelle Rounds, 40, whom she began dating a few months ago.

"She didn't look like any lesbian I'd ever met," says the talk show host. "But it's fun and very exciting."

Back on the air after a short-lived stint on "The View" from 2006 to 2007 and an 18-month gig on SiriusXM radio, O'Donnell credits hormone replacement therapy for making her life more manageable -- and joyful -- on all levels.

"I'm in menopause, and I've been having really bad hot flashes," she says. But O'Donnell's therapist offered up another reason for the heat: "She said, ' [It's] because you're also in love.' "

"It's like you're a withering rose and the petals are falling off and all of sudden you bloom again," she says. "For me, [the hormones] have made a drastic difference."

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