Roseanne is Nuts about Reality

Rosanne Barr, the 58-year-old comedienne who starred in the hit television show Roseanne, recently had a three hour interview with Kate Aurthur from Newsweek that left Barr overwhelmed with tears. During the interview Barr spoke about many difficult situations she had to deal with, including when she was only 18 and had to give up a child for adoption. Barr discussed other unfortunate situations that dealt with her children and three husbands.

When speaking of her kids, she told Aurthur, “They suffered a lot. The best thing to me is when people at Buck’s school, they say—,‘You know, your son is so wonderful of a person.’”

At that moment in the interview Barr became quite emotional. “They just say, ‘Your son is such a great person.’ That’s just the greatest thing. And all my kids and my grand-kids and stuff. I just have a great life.” As she spoke, her crying intensified. “They’re decent. Despite all of it. And that’s, like, man, that’s a big victory for me. The biggest. That’s the one that matters. When I look in the mirror or whatever, I’m like, ‘Whew—dodged a big fucking bullet there.’”

After calming down a bit Barr said, “When your kids are looked up to by people you admire, that’s better than fucking 10 sitcoms. For me to have my kids come through fire—and they did. Thank God. Thank God, Allah, Buddha, Jesus. Everybody. That’s a good ending!”

She may say that it is a good ending, but in actualization it’s just a good beginning. Barr is kicking off her new 16 episode Lifetime reality series called Rosanne’s Nuts to be aired on Wednesdays. Nuts is right, as Rosanne is living her life on the Big Island of Hawaii, on a macadamia nut farm  which she has owned since 2007 and fully moved into as of last year.

The show will view her life on the farm with her boyfriend of eight years, Johnny Argent, and teenage son Buck. Her other children and grandchildren make many appearances too. Barr considers the show like, “Larry David meets reality.” It is still reality, but she reconsiders her statement and points out, “It’s based in reality. But it’s funny. It’s not the Kardashians.”

Sandra Bernhard, a fellow comedian and friend of Barr’s, appears on various episodes of the reality series as well. She spoke highly of the show saying, “It was totally unlike any reality show that I’ve ever seen—the conversation was at the very highest level, but still really funny and crazy. It kind of captured the brilliance of real conversation without being boring, pedantic, and a bummer.”

There are many high hopes for the reality show, especially from Rob Sharenow, who is Lifetime’s executive vice president of programming. “She’s not someone who can fake it,” Sharenow said. “I don’t think that’s within her DNA—I think she has to be who she is. Roseanne is by far the biggest star to ever do a reality show. She is not a D-lister desperate for fame or looking to make a quick buck.”

There’s no way that Barr is in need of money considering the fact that she made $1 million for every Roseanne episode. And we are talking every episode. This lady is good to go.

Barr’s hair has turned gray now and she resembles a hippie, as feather extensions nestle in her silver locks. It’s the simple things in life that seem to really make Barr content. For example, the rise of female comedians brings her back to her stand-up days; Chelsea Handler, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler are some performers that she really appreciates. “I just like that all these women are coming to TV and they’ll have their say,” Barr explained. “I think that’ll be cool.”

Her time away from Hollywood has broadened her view on expectations. Barr confessed, “Nothing I ever do is going to compare to what I’ve done. Before I always was like, ‘I’ve got to top it.’ Make myself fucking crazy and too nervous. You know what? You’re never going top it. For so long, too, I’d be, like, ‘I can’t play that part, it’s too Roseanne Conner. I don’t want to be Roseanne Conner.’ And now, I’m, like, ‘Fuck it! Wait a minute—she’s me.’ ”

Barr has come a long way as a Hollywood star and she will soon fit right in as a reality goddess in her new series.

Check out Roseanne on The View, courtesy of YouTube.com!

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