Roseanne Barr (November 3, 1952) is an actress, writer, talk-show host and comedian. She was born Roseanne Cherrie Barr in Salt Lake City to a family of Jewish refugees. At times in her career she has been known as Roseanne, Roseanne Arnold and Roseanne Thomas.
Roseanne became famous in the early 1980s with her stand-up comedy routine, which received significant critical acclaim for its unglamorized portrayal of the typical American middle-class housewife. It was during this routine that she also coined the now well-known phrase "Domestic goddess," referring to a homemaker. This led to her own series on ABC, called Roseanne. The show ran from 1988 to 1997, and co-starred Emmy winners Laurie Metcalf and John Goodman.
A year after the end of her sitcom's run in 1997, Roseanne went on to host her own talk show, The Roseanne Show. The show ran for two years before it was cancelled in 2000. In the summer of 2003, she took on the dual role of hosting a cooking show (called Domestic Goddess) and starring in a reality show (called The Real Roseanne Show) about hosting a cooking show, although an illness and emergency hysterectomy brought a premature end to both projects.
Roseanne married Bill Pentland on February 4, 1974, and they had three children (Roseanne had a daughter prior to marriage, whom she gave up for adoption, but this daughter is now back in her life). While taping her show she fell in love with a fellow actor Tom Arnold and in January of 1990 she divorced Pentland and married Arnold. Four years later this marriage also ended in divorce. Roseanne married Ben Thomas on Valentine's Day in 1995 and they had one son, Buck Thomas. In 1998 she sued Thomas for divorce, claiming he had threatened to kidnap their son. The Thomas family later made up and Roseanne dropped the charges, but they divorced in 2002.
In 2005, Roseanne returned to her first love, stand-up comedy, touring the world. Roseanne's first kids' DVD, Rockin' with Roseanne: Calling All Kids, was released in February 2006. Roseanne has stated that she is working her way up to another HBO comedy special.
Roseanne was also known for her brash off-screen persona and antics. Of note was the heavily publicized and controversial occasion on which Barr performed the "Star Spangled Banner" before a baseball game in San Diego, California, on July 25, 1990. After being told by baseball officials to "bring humor to the song," she mimicked the behaviour of players by spitting and grabbing her crotch; barely singing the song, she instead screeched and screamed it. She was booed off the field because many people felt she was insulting American tradition.
