John Goodman has revealed he hasn’t spoken to his former on-screen wife, Roseanne Barr, in almost a decade.
Goodman recently wrapped The Conners, the Roseanne spin off series, which followed the Conner family as they struggled to pick up the pieces after matriarch Roseanne’s death. In the finale, Goodman’s character Dan visited Roseanne’s grave.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in a new interview, Goodman revealed the status of his relationship with Barr when asked if he had connected with her over the end of the spin off.
“No. I’d rather doubt if she wants to talk to me,” Goodman said. “We haven’t talked for about seven or eight years.”
When asked if the silence between them made it hard to do The Conners, Goodman said: “No. We got a good cast, and everybody stands out.”
Goodman and Barr starred on the original 1988 sitcom, which aired for nine seasons. The two had instant chemistry that made the show a hit.
Goodman was also asked about working with Barr in those early days of the sitcom, saying: “We hit it off from jump street. She made me laugh, and I made her laugh, and wow, it was so much fun. We’d get so many viewers for the show back then — 20, 30 million people.”
“Things are so different now, but it was a special time,” he added.
The Conners aired its series finale in April after seven seasons. The spin off premiered in 2018 shortly after the planned revival of Roseanne was canceled because of a racist tweet shared by original star Barr, whose character was written off for The Conners, though she was honored in the series finale.
The final seconds of the series saw several mainstays from the original series — namely Laurie Metcalf as Jackie, Lecy Goranson as Becky Conner, and Sara Gilbert as Darlene Conner — tearfully hug one another and say goodnight to the family’s patriarch, Dan Conner (Goodman).
Goodman was then left alone in the living room as a brief montage of seasons past played, featuring the trio of characters who had just exited. Goodman then broke the fourth wall in a rare break in character. Looking directly at the camera, he smiled, nodded, and said, “Goodnight” and then walked off, beer in hand.
“I wanted to do it, and they let me, and they kept it,” Goodman told The Hollywood Reporter of that moment. “I thought it was just us saying, ‘Good night, folks. Thank you.’”
