EXCLUSIVE: Inside Chuck Lorre's Bitter Feud With Roseanne Barr on Set
Chuck Lorre's bitter on-set feud with Roseanne Barr reveals deep tensions between the TV figures.
Nov. 6 2026, Published 6:00 a.m. ET
Roseanne Barr allegedly had a serious problem with the people who put the words in her mouth – according to TV sitcom kingpin Chuck Lorre.
RadarOnline.com can reveal The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men creator claims his h-llish early days working on Barr were marked by the former Domestic Goddess' deep resentment toward her writing staff.
Lorre Reveals Alleged Behind-the-Scenes Nightmare
Chuck Lorre claims Roseanne Barr resented having writers provide dialogue for her sitcom.
"She hated that there were writers. Fundamentally hated that other people wrote words that she would say," Lorre, 74, declared on Jesse Tyler Ferguson's Dinner's on Me podcast.
The veteran writer-producer said he learned to live with the behind-the-scenes turmoil because he desperately didn't want to slide back into the tough times he'd survived before landing the sitcom gig.
"I navigated because I'd had, I don't know, 15, 20 years of poverty and health issues and all sorts of stuff, and I was not going to go back," Lorre recalled. "Under no circumstances was I going to go back to scrambling to pay the rent."
So, Lorre said he swallowed her alleged abuse and endured long, brutal workweeks.
"That is why I put up with it," he said. "Sixty, 70-hour weeks every week. And it was malice. It was absolute."
Barr's Sitcom Success Sparks Tensions
The 'Big Bang Theory' creator recalled enduring 60- to 70-hour workweeks while working with Barr.
According to Lorre, Barr's background as a stand-up comic was at the heart of the explosive dynamic.
The comedian, 73, had built her career on her own observations and words before transforming herself into Roseanne Conner, the working-class heroine she played for all nine seasons of the original ABC smash and for which she won an Emmy Award.
But Lorre believes that success made the transition to a traditional sitcom – where a team of writers supplied the dialogue – particularly difficult for Barr.
Lorre Exposes Roseanne's Turbulent Past
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The 'Roseanne' revival was canceled in 2018 following Barr's controversial social-media post about Valerie Jarrett.
"She was a stand-up comedian. She made herself a superstar based on her words, her writing," he explained. "Then transition to a television show where [you] can't do it alone. It's impossible. That transition was not going to happen."
Roseanne ran from 1988 to 1997 and was revived in 2018, only to be canceled after Barr sparked outrage with an explosive social-media post about former Barack Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett.
Now Lorre's blast offers a glimpse into another chapter of the show's turbulent history – and suggests the fireworks behind the cameras could be every bit as fierce as those on screen.
