John Goodman Defends Roseanne Barr Months After ‘Roseanne’ Cancellation: “She’s Not a Racist”

It’s been three months since the abrupt cancellation of Roseanne following Roseanne Barr‘s racist tweets, and now, her former co-star and on-screen husband, John Goodman, is speaking out to defend his co-star after previously saying he “would rather say nothing than to cause more trouble.”

“I know, I know, for a fact that she’s not a racist,” he told The Times in a new interview. ABC caboshed the reboot of the popular sitcom after Roseanne compared one of Barack Obama’s former aides Valerie Jarrett to an ape on Twitter. 

John admitted that after the controversy, he experienced depression because of it. “I was broken-hearted,” he said. “I went through a period, about a month, where I was very depressed. That had a great deal to do with it, more than I wanted to admit.”

The actor has been very vocal about his private battles and how they relate to the show. In a recent interview, he got candid about how his past struggle with alcoholism and stress nearly ruined his stint on the series at its peak. “I got complacent and ungrateful. And after nine years—eight years, I wanted to leave the show,” John previously confessed. “I handled it like I did everything else, by sittin’ on a bar stool. And that made it worse.”

Luckily for John, however, through all the ups and downs, he will now be able to reprise his role of Dan Conner in the upcoming spin-off The Conners, and apparently, he has Roseanne to thank for that.  “She had to sign a paper saying that she relinquished all her rights to the show so that we could go on,” the 66-year-old shared. “I sent her an email and thanked her for that. I did not hear anything back, but she was going through hell at the time. And she’s still going through hell.” At least she has a friend in John…