30 Little Known Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Roseanne Barr

Roseanne Cherrie Barr is an American actress, comedian, writer and television producer, who was the 2012 presidential nominee of the California-based Peace and Freedom Party. She was born on November 3, 1952 in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. Here are 30 interesting facts about the actress:

1. Barr is ranked at #9 in Comedy Central's "100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time," making her the highest-ranking woman in Comedy Central history.
2. She was featured in a 2011 Super Bowl XLV commercial for Snickers with fellow comedian Richard Lewis. The ad is considered to be one of the most popular ads, based on the number of TiVo users rewinding and watching it over.
3. Her show "Roseanne," was consistently ranked in the Nielsen top 20 shows listing for eight of the nine seasons. The second season of the show reached its pinnacle and became the most watched television show in the U.S., at that time.
4. She met with a car crash accident on September 17, 1968, in which she was severely injured resulting in a traumatic brain injury. After the accident, she was institutionalized for eight months at Utah State Hospital, when she was 16 years old.
5. The most popular phrase "Domestic Goddess," which refers to a homemaker or housewife, was first popularized by her in her routines.
6. Her show "Roseanne" which premiered on October 18, 1988, was reportedly watched by 21.4 million households, making it the highest-rated debut of that season.
7. She was the first and also only female comedian to host MTV Video Music Awards, when she hosted it on her own in 1994, until comedian Chelsea Handler hosted in 2010.
8. In the year 2015, she revealed she has been diagnosed with both macular degeneration and glaucoma, which leads to gradually losing her eyesight and eventually go blind. She is reportedly consuming medical marijuana to decrease her intraocular pressure which is a feature of these diseases.
9. During the production of the first season of "Roseanne," she opposed a lot to writer Matt Williams' authority and sought more control over the show. She refused to say certain lines and even walked off the show. Around thirteen episodes in, she threatened to quit, if Williams didn't quit. This was also because she was outraged when Williams was listed as the creator in the show's credits.
10. She married Bill Pentland, a motel clerk on February 4, 1974. The duo met while she moved for the first time to Colorado. They had three children together - Jessica, Jennifer, and Jake, and stayed married for 16 years before divorcing on January 16, 1990.
    
11. She has a lesbian sister Geraldine Barr and a gay brother Ben Barr, both of whom are said to the inspiration for her to introduce gay characters into her sitcom. Her sister was also her manager while performing in comedy clubs and at the start of her sitcom.
12. During the period she was institutionalized at Utah State Hospital, she had a daughter named Brandi, from a previous relationship. She gave the baby for adoption, but later searched for and reunited.
13. In an interview with the People in 1991, she claimed to have been an incest survivor, accusing her parents - Jerome Hershel "Jerry" Barr and Helen, of physical and sexual abuse. Her parents as well as Geraldine have publicly denied such claims.
14. Later, during her appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" along with her sister Geraldine, Roseanne admitted that the word "incest" could have been wrong to use. However, she added that not everything was "made up", saying, "Nobody accuses their parents of abusing them without justification".
15. She discovered her first public stage at the age of six, by lecturing at LDS churches around Utah and was also elected as the president of a Mormon youth group.
16. In March 2017, Barr accused Ireland of being anti-semitic and even posted a demanding tweet "Give Ireland back to the British too."
17. She underwent multiple cosmetic surgeries like a breast reduction, tummy tuck, and a nose job, in the mid 1990s. She also had a gastric bypass surgery in the late 1990s.
18. On July 25, 1990, Barr sang the National Anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner" at a baseball game between the San Diego Padres and Cincinnati Reds at Jack Murphy Stadium.
19. Barr made her national TV debut on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" in 1985, after trying out at "The Comedy Store" in Los Angeles. However, it was the "The Tonight Show" that was a turning point in her career. Following that, she went on to perform on "Late Night with David Letterman" and have her own HBO special titled "The Roseanne Barr Show."
20. In the year 2003, she hosted a cooking show titled "Domestic Goddess," and at the same time starred in a reality show named "The Real Roseanne Show," which was about hosting a cooking show. However, with 13 episodes in production, both projects had to be brought to a premature end as she had to undergo hysterectomy.
    
21. Following her marriage to fellow comedian Tom Arnold, whom she met in 1983 in Minneapolis, while he opened for her stand-up comedy act, she fired her sister Geraldine, as her sister claimed that Arnold tried to dominate "for his own reasons."
22. Being fired by her own sister, Geraldine filed a $70.3 million breach of contract lawsuit on December 18, 1991, claiming that Roseanne promised half the earnings from the "Roseanne show" for helping invent the "domestic goddess" character in 1981. However, the lawsuit was thrown out as it was six months past the statute of limitations.
23. Just as she moved to Colorado, she started doing stand-up gigs in clubs in Denver and other Colorado towns. She reportedly worked as a dishwasher, cook, and waitress for Bennigan's Restaurant to support his life.
24. She earned more than $40 million, from the final two seasons of her show "Roseanne," in the period of 1995 to 1977, making her the second-highest-paid woman in show business at the time, next only to Oprah Winfrey.
25. Barr announced on April 28, 2017 that she will return with the most of the original cast of "Roseanne," for an eight episode revival. The very next month, it was confirmed that the revival episodes will be aired mid-season in 2018 on ABC.
26. It is reported that she moved out of her parents’ house at the age of 18, informing them that she was to visit a friend in Colorado for two weeks. However, she never returned.
27. In the year 1989, she published her autobiography titled "Roseanne-My Life As a Woman." Her second book "My Lives," was released five years later in 1994.
28. Her very first show, "The Roseanne Barr Show," earned her an American Comedy Award for the funniest female performer in a television special in the year 1987.
29. She owns a 50-acre macadamia nut farm in the Big Island of Hawaii which she purchased in 2007 for $1.78 million. She along with her partner Johnny Argent, reportedly keep beehives, goats and a lone black sheep named "Roseanne," in the farm.
30. Barr has an Emmy as well as a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress to her name, for her work on her hit television sitcom "Roseanne."
    
31. Roseanne Barr Net Worth: $80 Million