From child star to '90s sitcom icon to grown-up talk show host and mother of three, Sara Gilbert's life has been full but never easy, But hope is central to her persona: and despite all the hardship she's endured, she remains a perennial optimist.
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00:00 From child star to '90s sitcom icon to grown-up talk show host and mother of three, Sarah
00:06 Gilbert's life has been full but never easy. But hope is central to her persona, and despite
00:11 all the hardship she's endured, she remains a perennial optimist.
00:15 Born in Santa Monica, California, Sarah Gilbert was surrounded by creatives as a child. The
00:20 granddaughter of Harry Crane, who created hit sitcom The Honeymooners, and sister of
00:24 Little House on the Prairie star Melissa Gilbert, the youngster knew at an early age that she
00:28 wanted to join the family business. She struggled with school, explaining to Entertainment Weekly,
00:33 "Honestly, I didn't really love being in regular school, so anything that put me in a more
00:37 creative environment was a plus."
00:39 "Did they call off school yet?"
00:40 "Not yet."
00:41 "Oh, please let school be closed, please, I don't want to do this book report."
00:44 When Gilbert was five years old, she was cast in a Kool-Aid commercial, and she was on her
00:48 way. On an episode of The Talk, she credited acting with saving her life, saying,
00:53 "I was so miserable in school and having that life. The creative outlet kind of saved my
00:57 life in ways, but I think it still comes with its downsides, even in the best set of circumstances."
01:03 "I was gonna be a doctor, pediatric surgeon, but, you know, I just started getting more
01:09 into acting."
01:10 As her acting career flourished, she was able to stop attending regular school and received
01:14 one-on-one tutoring, something Gilbert admitted was a dream come true.
01:19 At the tender age of 13, Sarah Gilbert was catapulted to stardom after landing the role
01:23 of Darlene on "Roseanne" in 1988. Though she was elated with her newfound success, fame
01:28 came at an odd time for Gilbert. Unlike most child actors, who tend to find fame in their
01:33 formative years, Gilbert became a star right as she entered her teens.
01:36 "I was a very young, awkward person. It's hard to have your teenage years in front of
01:41 everybody."
01:42 While fame itself wasn't strange to the kid who'd grown up around the industry, juggling
01:45 the everyday struggles of being a teenager with stardom was sometimes daunting. In an
01:49 interview with Deadline, she said,
01:51 "The only weird thing about being a famous teenager was that it's a really strong juxtaposition
01:56 between the adoration and attention and the normal feelings of loneliness and isolation
02:00 that can come with being a teenager."
02:02 In 1993, she enrolled at Yale, which came with a new set of challenges.
02:06 "To whom it concerns, Darlene's work will be late. It fell on her pancakes and stuck
02:13 to her plate."
02:14 Gilbert had to fly to Los Angeles on Thursdays to film "Roseanne," then take a red-eye back
02:18 to New York on Sunday, followed by a train to Connecticut.
02:21 While filming "Roseanne," Gilbert dated Johnny Galecki, who played her on-screen boyfriend
02:25 David. However, during a 2013 episode of The Talk, she confessed that things never quite
02:30 clicked between them.
02:31 "Listen, if this Barry guy tries to hold you too close, just tell him you gotta throw up."
02:35 "Oh, I thought I'd save that for when he wants to have sex."
02:39 Eventually, she realized she was gay, but she felt pressure to keep her sexuality a
02:42 secret, explaining,
02:43 "I just felt so scared if it came out, what could happen? Could I lose my career? What
02:48 would I ever be able to play a straight role again?"
02:50 In 2010, Sarah officially came out. The news wasn't a surprise to her sister, Melissa Gilbert,
02:55 who revealed on The Talk that she always knew Sarah was gay, but she wanted her little sister
02:59 to figure it out for herself. Now that she's a mom, Gilbert has spoken about the importance
03:04 of talking to her children about homophobia.
03:06 "I remember one of them when I was engaged coming to me and saying like, 'You know, you
03:10 can't really get married, 'cause when we first got engaged, it wasn't legal.' She went on
03:14 to explain,
03:15 "I think if you don't take those moments to take it further, you are doing your kids a
03:18 disservice because in their minds something's wrong."
03:22 For a decade, Gilbert was in a long-term relationship with television writer Ali Adler, with whom
03:27 she has two children. But in 2011, the couple called it quits. On an episode of The Talk
03:31 that aired shortly after the breakup, Gilbert was tearful while discussing the end of her
03:35 relationship, saying,
03:36 "I feel like I don't know if marriage is all it's cracked up to be. I've never been married,
03:41 but I was in a long relationship. It's emotional for me, because we're not together. You see
03:45 people in their 70s and you wonder, 'How do they do it? How do they make it last?' And
03:49 I would like to think that I can."
03:50 Although Reps initially claimed that the split was amicable, Adler reportedly felt deeply
03:55 betrayed when Gilbert wed Linda Perry in 2014. In an interview with Radar, one insider claimed
04:00 that Gilbert left Adler for Perry, leaving her ex blindsided. The insider shared,
04:05 "When Sarah and Linda got engaged last year, it was like the final dagger for Allison.
04:09 Things might not have been roses and rainbows, but Allison would have liked to have worked
04:13 on her relationship with Sarah instead of just giving up."
04:16 The original run of "Roseanne" starred Irish actor Glenn Quinn as Mark, the leather-jacket-clad
04:21 boyfriend of Darlene's older sister Becky. In 2002, Quinn died at the age of just 32.
04:27 He had struggled with substance abuse for many years. Though he was reportedly sober
04:31 while filming "Roseanne," things took a turn when the series ended in 1997, and he moved
04:36 on to the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff "Angel." His sister told The Irish Independent,
04:40 "It was at this time that Glenn's struggles took over. We as a family were very supportive
04:45 in helping him. Though there were periods of sobriety, ultimately, it consumed him."
04:49 "I would have chosen the pleasures of the flesh over duty and honor any day of the week.
04:54 I just don't have that strength."
04:55 When "Roseanne" was rebooted in 2018, Sarah Gilbert paid tribute to her late co-star in
05:00 a bittersweet way. On an episode of The Talk, she shared that she and Galecki texted each
05:04 other as they tried to think of a name for their on-screen son, explaining,
05:07 "I thought I had to reach out to Johnny Galecki 'cause this is our kid together. So I texted
05:11 him, 'What do you think we named our baby boy?' And then I said, 'Oh, maybe Mark,' because
05:16 Mark was played by Glenn Quinn, who was Galecki's brother on the show, who passed away."
05:20 Galecki agreed that Mark was the perfect name for his and Darlene's fictional child. Sharing
05:24 a screenshot of the poignant conversation on Instagram, Gilbert concluded her post with
05:28 the hashtag "NamedForGlennQuinn."
05:31 Over the years, "Roseanne Barr" has engaged in problematic behavior. Though once a liberal
05:36 darling who toured with Michael Moore, Barr's politics gradually shifted to the right, and
05:40 she became a vocal Donald Trump supporter and anti-woke crusader. Eventually, her views
05:44 spelled her undoing.
05:45 "Weren't you a friend of, like a good friend of Hillary Clinton's at one point?"
05:51 "Yeah!"
05:53 In 2018, just as fans were looking forward to the second season of the "Roseanne" reboot,
05:59 Barr uploaded an ex-post in which she compared Barack Obama aide Valerie Jarrett to a Planet
06:04 of the Apes character and claimed she supported the Muslim Brotherhood that was widely condemned
06:08 as racist and Islamophobic. Although Barr attempted to apologize for her remarks, even
06:13 those within her closest circle couldn't explain away her undeniably offensive language.
06:18 "What's up, deplorable?"
06:19 Gilbert expressed her disappointment on "Ex," effectively distancing herself from her contentious
06:24 co-star, writing,
06:25 "Roseanne's recent comments about Valerie Jarrett and so much more are abhorrent. I
06:29 am disappointed in her actions to say the least."
06:32 Barr was let go, and the show was reborn as "The Conners." Speaking to The Washington
06:36 Post in 2019, Barr accused Gilbert of ruining her life, saying,
06:40 "She destroyed the show and my life with that tweet. She will never get enough until she
06:44 consumes my liver with a fine Chianti."
06:46 "Sarah Gilbert has emerged as the star of 'The Conners,' and I think that that probably
06:53 is upsetting to Roseanne."
06:54 In 2019, Sarah Gilbert announced that she was leaving "The Talk" after nine years as
07:00 a co-host. She credited her decision with being "overworked," having filmed "The Conners"
07:04 while also hosting "The Talk," which kept her away from her family. Gilbert admitted
07:08 that her life had been out of balance, explaining,
07:10 "I wasn't, you know, able to spend as much time with my three kids as I'd like, or time
07:14 for myself."
07:15 "I don't really like talking, is the truth."
07:17 In her interview with Deadline, she acknowledged that, though leaving was an incredibly difficult
07:21 decision, it was the right one for the sake of her kids, saying,
07:24 "I know I need to act more, and I know I need to produce, and I know I need to see my kids.
07:29 I've had the opportunity to do 'The Talk' show for nine years. It felt like, 'Okay,
07:33 now it's time to focus on these other things.'"
07:35 "Show business just kinda sucks you in, you know? So I think I'll be a star."
07:40 Speaking to Variety, she also admitted that the pressure to be so open about her personal
07:44 life proved a struggle. An intensely private person, Gilbert conceded that she was relieved
07:49 she would no longer have to discuss her everyday life on national TV, saying,
07:52 "I'm okay with letting that piece of it go."
07:55 There was sad news for Sarah Gilbert and Linda Perry when Gilbert filed for separation
08:00 in 2019. Following an elaborate proposal from Perry, which included picnickers breaking
08:04 into a string rendition of a Cure song and T-shirts with "Will You Marry Me" written
08:08 on them, the two got engaged in 2013. At the time, Gilbert was overjoyed, explaining on
08:14 The Talk that there was no doubt in her mind that she wanted to tie the knot with her girlfriend.
08:18 She shared,
08:19 "So I think that's it, and it's the most amazing proposal ever."
08:22 The following year, the women married in a romantic ceremony in Malibu. Speaking about
08:26 marriage on The Talk, Gilbert said,
08:28 "You feel safer in a way, and you feel like you've really committed and it's not about
08:31 'Can I deal with this or not deal with it?' It becomes, 'How will we deal with our relationship
08:35 together?'"
08:36 But after five years of marriage, Gilbert filed for separation, citing "irreconcilable
08:40 differences." In 2021, the couple, who welcomed a son six years earlier, finalized their divorce.
08:47 Speaking with Page Six, Perry said,
08:48 "You have to look at life as life, and things happen. I'm still on an incredible adventure
08:53 with Sarah. I love her. I adore her."
08:56 Ever the contrarian, Sharon Osbourne is no stranger to drama, from supporting Brexit
09:00 despite living in the U.S., to questioning Meghan Markle's identity as a Black woman.
09:05 But during their time on The Talk, Osbourne and Gilbert appeared incredibly close, so
09:08 much so that when the latter announced her departure, Osbourne was in tears, saying,
09:12 "While my husband's been sick, Sarah's just gone out of her way to find him little things
09:16 that she knows he'll like and buy for him." And he considers her a friend, too.
09:20 "It's like, um, a sister. She's like a sister that I never had."
09:26 But despite their apparent camaraderie, behind closed doors, Osbourne allegedly made some
09:30 highly problematic remarks about Gilbert.
09:33 According to several sources who spoke to Yashar Ali of The Reset in 2021, Osbourne
09:37 frequently made racist remarks about co-host Julie Chen Moonves and homophobic comments
09:42 about Gilbert. Former The Talk co-host Leah Remini, who is among the sources, claimed
09:46 that Osbourne used highly crude, misogynistic, and racist language when referring to Gilbert's
09:51 refusal to side with Osbourne interviewed with Chen Moonves. In an interview with the
09:55 Daily Mail, Osbourne denied the allegations while repeating the racial slurs she had allegedly
10:00 used against Chen Moonves. She soon left the show in the wake of multiple claims of workplace
10:05 misconduct. Gilbert did not respond to the allegations.
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10:10 (upbeat music)