Roseanne Barr‘s daughter is opening up about how her mother’s fame brought hardship to their family.
Jenny Petland, Barr’s middle child, published the book “This Will Be Funny Later: A Memoir” on Jan. 18. In it, she takes a deep dive into her life, reflecting on what it was like to grow up with a mother who is a superstar in the comedy world.
Throughout the book’s earlier chapters, Petland reveals that she and her siblings often found themselves getting in trouble, seemingly in response to their mother’s growing celebrity.
The family was put in a unique situation as Barr’s career took off. The comedian relocated to Los Angeles while her husband at the time stayed behind in Colorado with their three children.
ROSEANNE BARR’S DAUGHTER SAYS SHE HAS PTSD FROM BEING ‘LOCKED UP’ IN TROUBLED TEEN FACILITIES
Roseanne Barr’s daughter recalled “pressures” being placed on their family as her mother’s fame increased.
(Courtesy of Jenny Pentland/Instagram | ABC)
Eventually, Barr’s family joined her in California and the comedian was offered a special on HBO, which would film after she finished a tour, all while performing in Las Vegas.
“It was a year of sheer chaos,” Petland wrote, noting that she and her siblings – older sister Jessica and younger brother Jake – began to struggle in various ways.
“The pressures inside our house were rising from all angles,” the author confessed. “There wasn’t one aspect of any of our individual lives or our collective life as a family that wasn’t in complete upheaval.”
At the time, Barr’s career was just taking off. The star had been offered a special on HBO just before creating “Roseanne.”
(Reuters)
Petland said that Barr was “overwhelmed” by trying to maintain a balance between her personal and professional lives while her father was “struggling with his new role as the supportive stay-at-home husband.”
ROSEANNE BARR CLAIMS TV EXECS FORCED HER TO QUIT DOING STAND-UP, THREATENED HER RESIDUAL INCOME
“Jessica was becoming a textbook Mean Girl. I was being slowly swallowed alive by my anxiety, and Jake was silently watching it all happen, which was maybe the most disconcerting of all our reactions,” she said. “Our family was falling apart, and the stress of falling apart was making us fall apart even faster.”
Family tensions would persist for several more years after the success of “Roseanne.”
(Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for NBC)
Petland would go on to struggle more in her life, describing herself as having been “locked up” in facilities for troubled teens.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
In the end, things seem to have worked out for the author, who dedicated the book to her parents and siblings, commending and complimenting them in the dedication, among several others.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER
