DETROIT -- For the first time actor and comedian Rosie O’Donnell is speaking out about Detroit and the local teenager she is turning into a star.

It was on O’Donnell’s blog that she first made comments about Detroit. After landing in the city to shoot a Lifetime movie, O’Donnell wrote, "I'm here in Detroit, Michigan where the recession is already the depression. Hard to believe unless you see it. We must save this city."

"It reminded me a lot of when I went to New Orleans in some capacity," O’Donnell told Local 4 in an interview. "Well, I have to say, Detroit is a pretty close second to that natural disaster and it’s shocking to me that I didn’t know just how bad it was and that America doesn’t know. Before we save the auto industry we need to save Detroit."

Like many filmmakers who now chose to film in Michigan because of the state’s incentives, O’Donnell said it was both the tax breaks and the city’s ambience that drew her in.

"It turned out that the setting and the feeling of Detroit, that’s exactly the vibe and the feel of the film," O’Donnell said.

O’Donnell said she was having dinner at Small Plates restaurant in Detroit when she spotted the teen, 17-year-old Cass Tech student Philip Johnson.

O’Donnell said Johnson was eating with his family when she approached them.

O’Donnell said she was "stunned" after hearing Johnson read the script for the first time.

O’Donnell said she has been watching the coverage of Detroit’s automakers and their efforts in Washington to be awarded a bridge loan. O’Donnell said she doesn’t feel the Big Three are getting the money or attention they deserve, so she went out and bought an American car -- a Buick Enclave.