Roseanne Barr

Roseanne Cherrie Barr (born November 3, 1952) is an American actress, comedian, writer, and producer.

In 1970, when Barr was 18, she moved out by informing her parents that she was going to visit a friend in Colorado for two weeks, and never returned.

The following year, Barr had a baby, who she put up for adoption.

She and her daughter amicably reunited 17 years later.

While in Colorado, Barr began doing stand-up gigs in clubs in Denver and other Colorado towns.

Barr became a stand-up comedian in 1980.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, she gained fame through her role in Roseanne and other performances.

She later tried out at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles, and went on to appear on The Tonight Show in 1985.

In 1986, she performed on a Rodney Dangerfield special and on Late Night with David Letterman, and the following year had her own HBO special called The Roseanne Barr Show, which earned her an American Comedy Award for the funniest female performer in a television special.

She began her career in stand-up comedy before gaining acclaim in the television sitcom Roseanne (1988–1997; 2018).

She won an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her work on the show.

She sparked controversy when performing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at a nationally aired baseball game on July 25, 1990.

After singing the anthem in what many perceived to be a deliberately disrespectful manner, she grabbed her groin and spat.

This performance was met with condemnation from baseball fans and sportswriters, and was called "disgraceful" by then-President George H. W. Bush.

Barr has been active and outspoken on political issues.

She unsuccessfully sought the Green Party's nomination for president in 2012, losing to physician Jill Stein.

Later nominated by the left-wing Peace and Freedom Party, Barr received nearly 70,000 votes for president in the 2012 presidential election.

After Donald Trump announced his candidacy for president in 2015, Kelly Weill of The Daily Beast wrote that Barr "veered right" in her politics.

After Roseanne was revived, Trump called her to congratulate her on her show's ratings and thank her for her support.

She has frequently defended her support of Trump, and has been criticized for making personal attacks and promoting conspiracy theories and fake news.

Roseanne was revived in 2018 on ABC.

A ratings success, it was renewed for an additional season but was canceled after Barr made a tweet condemned as racist by many commentators.

She referred to the tweet as a "bad joke".

In 2022, she announced a comeback comedy special to be released on Fox Nation in 2023.

Barr was born in Salt Lake City, Utah to a Jewish family.

She is the oldest of four children born to Helen (née Davis), a bookkeeper and cashier, and Jerome Hershel "Jerry" Barr, a salesman.

Her father's family were Jewish emigrants from the Russian Empire, and her maternal grandparents were Jewish emigrants from Austria-Hungary and Lithuania.

Her paternal grandfather changed his surname from "Borisofsky" to "Barr" upon entering the United States.

Barr's great-grandparents were murdered during the Holocaust.

Her Jewish upbringing was influenced by her devoutly Orthodox Jewish maternal grandmother.

Barr's parents kept their Jewish heritage secret from their neighbors and were partially involved in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Barr has stated, "Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning I was a Jew; Sunday afternoon, Tuesday afternoon, and Wednesday afternoon we were Mormons."

When Barr was three, she was inflicted with Bell's palsy on the left side of her face.

She said, "[so] my mother called in a rabbi to pray for me, but nothing happened. Then my mother got a Mormon preacher, he prayed, and I was miraculously cured".

Years later, she learned that Bell's palsy was usually temporary and that the Mormon elder came "exactly at the right time".

Barr has stated that she is on the autism spectrum.

At six years old, she discovered her first public stage by lecturing at LDS churches around Utah and was elected president of a Mormon youth group.

She attended East High School.

At age 16, however, Barr was hit by a car, and the car's hood ornament impaled her skull; the incident left her with a traumatic brain injury.

Her behavior changed so radically that she was institutionalized for eight months at Utah State Hospital.