The Tragic, Real-Life Story Of Sara Gilbert Is Just Sad

Sara Gilbert has undergone a stunning transformation from child star to an internationally renowned actor, Emmy-winning talk show host, successful producer, and mom of three. Even her name has changed: She was born Sara Abeles in Los Angeles in 1975. Coming from a family with long-standing ties to show business, she fell in love with acting when she was still in kindergarten and immediately began to pursue it. Gilbert found success shortly afterward when, as a tween, she became a household name thanks to her starring role on "Roseanne." However, despite achieving fame so early on, she managed to avert the child star curse and has continued to work in Hollywood full-time ever since.

Despite all of her career success, though, Gilbert has also faced her share of hurdles and disappointments on both the personal and professional fronts. These are the tragic details of Sara Gilbert's real-life story.

Sara Gilbert started acting when she was just 6 years old because, as she told Entertainment Weekly, she "was dying to do it," even then. Gilbert's older siblings, Jonathan and Melissa Gilbert, were both child stars on "Little House on the Prairie," and when she noticed the perks they enjoyed, she was sold. "They would get gifts from working on sets, especially at Christmas," she recalled, quipping, "I wanted in on those presents." Gilbert's first gig was a Kool-Aid commercial, followed by an episode of the 1982 TV series "The Magical World of Disney."

Two years later, she landed her first big role in the TV movie "Calamity Jane," and by 1988, she was a household name. Gilbert was 13 when she was cast as Darlene Connor on the smash hit show "Roseanne," and by then, the appeal was no longer about the presents but about escaping high school. "I don't think I was suited for adolescence, so for me it was great to have a job and feel like I was in this adult world," Gilbert told Entertainment Weekly back in 1997. 

It's a sentiment she again shared with the outlet in 2020, recalling, "I didn't really love being in regular school, so anything that put me in a more creative environment was a plus." And while Gilbert admits there were downsides, she told "The Talk" (via Yahoo) that she still considers it a blessing. "[T]he creative outlet kind of saved my life," she confessed.

Sara Gilbert may have been happy to leave traditional schooling behind to pursue acting at a young age, but that didn't spare her from the hardships of being a teen. In fact, as she told Seth Meyers in 2019, she soon discovered that "it's hard to have your teenage years in front of everybody."

However, it wasn't the fame itself that she found challenging, given that she came from a family of entertainers. Indeed, grandfather Harry Crane was a comedy writer, mom Barbara Cowan was an actor and producer, and her older siblings were both child stars. "Fame wasn't that strange to me," she told Deadline in 2019. Rather, the struggle was living under a spotlight at a point in her life when she was trying to discover herself. "The only weird thing about being a famous teenager was that it's a really, really strong juxtaposition between the adoration and attention, and the normal feelings of loneliness and isolation that can come with being a teenager," she mused. "The 'Who am I?' and figuring all that out with all the attention is sort of strange."

As a teenager in the '90s, Sara Gilbert dated her on-screen "Roseanne" boyfriend, played by Johnny Galecki, in real life. As she recalled during a 2013 episode of "The Talk" (via Us Weekly), she was smitten with her co-star, but something didn't feel quite right. "I thought he was super cute and had a total crush on him," she enthused. "He would come over, and we would make out, and then I would start to get depressed." Initially, both she and Galecki were confused by the unexpected reaction. Ultimately, though, the young actor realized that her attraction lay elsewhere. "I eventually told him that I thought it was about my sexuality and he was super sweet about it," she noted.

Even so, Gilbert wasn't ready to share her truth with the world. As she told "The Talk," she lived in fear that someone other than Galecki would learn about her sexual orientation, and it tainted her personal relationships at the time. Indeed, she eventually started dating a woman in the industry but constantly worried that it would become public knowledge. "I just felt like always so scared [about], if it came out, what could happen?" she confessed. "Would I lose my career? Could I ever play a straight role again?" Deciding the truth could jeopardize her career, Gilbert kept her sexuality hidden for years to come.

"Roseanne" was at the height of its popularity when an 18-year-old Sara Gilbert made a surprise announcement: She was going to university. Despite her aversion to traditional schooling for most of her life, Gilbert enrolled at Yale University in 1993, telling Entertainment Weekly, "I went to become something more, or different, than I was." Even so, she continued to work on the show while pursuing a degree in art, which she would receive with honors.

However, despite her efforts to start moving on from "Roseanne" long before it ended its original run, when the series actually went off the air in 1997, it hit Gilbert hard. "I just felt like a free-floating orb," she told Variety in 2018. "That was a hard time, finding my feet again, because I'd been in all these institutions — the institution of family, the institution of education, the institution of 'Roseanne.' Suddenly I had no affiliations anymore." It didn't help that the first pilot she made afterward wasn't picked up by any networks, although she ultimately did get her career back on track, appearing in a wide variety of shows, such as "ER" and "The Big Bang Theory."

Following her short-lived relationship with Johnny Galecki back in the 1990s, Sara Gilbert realized the truth about her sexual orientation, and she never once questioned it. However, she did decide to keep it a secret and didn't publicly share the fact that she was a lesbian until 2010. That was nearly a decade into her relationship with writer-producer Alison Adler (whom she started dating in 2001) and, as she later revealed on an episode of "The Talk," the reason behind her keeping mum was quite sad.

"When I talk about my sexuality on the show or in public, I still feel really scared," Gilbert admitted in 2013 (via Us Weekly). "There's still a piece of me that goes, '[W]ell, what is this costing me in career?'" Assuring the audience that she's totally happy with herself and her life, the actor explained that, even so, the joy doesn't automatically eliminate the hardship. "I want people to know that there can still be a struggle with it, and that's okay," she mused. "There can be a part of you that doesn't want to be different or feel scared."

Fans of "Roseanne" were thrilled when the show came back in 2018 and, unlike other reboots, did so with almost all of its original cast. As it turned out, Sara Gilbert deserved much of the praise for accomplishing such a feat, having spearheaded and helped to produce the series. However, when it was pulled off the air after one season, she was also blamed for its downfall by the series' star, Roseanne Barr.

The drama started that May, when Barr sent out an offensive, racist tweet about President Obama's former advisor, Valerie Jarrett. Backlash was swift, and Gilbert joined in denouncing her co-star, tweeting, "I am disappointed in her actions to say the least." Just 27 minutes after Gilbert's tweet, ABC canceled the show, and Barr couldn't help but connect the two. "She destroyed the show and my life with that tweet," Barr told The Washington Post. "She will never get enough until she consumes my liver with a fine Chianti." Gilbert responded, telling the outlet she will always have love for Barr, but ultimately, she said she understood and supported ABC's decision.

Eventually, the show came back as "The Conners" and publicly killed off Barr's character, which also did not sit well with the disgraced comedian. Indeed, she was still talking about it years later in 2023, when she told Megyn Kelly, "[Gilbert] stabbed me in the back." Not only that, but according to Barr, Gilbert repeatedly twisted [the knife]."

Sara Gilbert began dating writer-producer Allison Adler in 2001, and the couple soon welcomed two kids together: son Levi Hank Gilbert-Adler in 2004 and daughter Sawyer Jane Gilbert-Adler in 2007. All along, Gilbert kept their relationship under wraps and didn't openly talk about their union until 2010. She may not even have gone public with it then if not for the fact that she was launching a new show, "The Talk," which was meant to present hot topics from a mother's point of view. During a panel promoting the series, Gilbert opened up about being a mom of two with Adler, finally revealing her truth to the world. However, just a year afterward, she and Adler broke up, with Gilbert's rep telling People (via E! News), "It's completely amicable."

Even if that were true, though, the split was far from easy. Speaking about the breakup on "The Talk," (via The Hollywood Reporter), Gilbert said she'll always cherish the time they had together, but admitted it had shaken her belief in long-term relationships. "I feel like I don't know if marriage is all it's cracked up to be," she mused. "[Y]ou see people in their 70s and you wonder, 'How do they do it? How do they make it last?'"

The "Roseanne" family lost one of their own in 2002 when 32-year-old Glenn Quinn died from an accidental drug overdose. The actor was best known for playing Mark Healy, Becky Conner's boyfriend-turned-husband, and he left a real imprint on the show and its cast. "If Glenn hadn't got that role, it would've been a fleeting character," Michael Fishman, who played D.J., told The Irish Independent at the time. "Instead, he subtly added heart, kindness, and toughness that was unique Quinny."

His co-stars agreed, and so when "Roseanne" returned to the air in 2018, they knew they had to do something special to honor Quinn. "We all had great affection for Glenn," executive producer Bruce Helford told Popsugar, explaining, "He comes up a couple times in the course of the nine episodes." As for Gilbert, she decided to take her tribute even further and came up with the idea of naming a new character in his honor. On Facebook in 2018, Gilbert shared a text exchange between her and Johnny Galecki, revealing that when it came to naming their on-screen son, there was only one possible option: Mark. As soon as she made the sweet suggestion, Galecki was on board, enthusing, "Oh, DEFINITELY Mark."

Even the biggest fans of "The Talk" may not realize that the show was actually created by Sara Gilbert. The actor had the idea for a talk show that would feature a round-table discussion spearheaded by a panel of women who were also mothers. CBS liked the angle and bought the show in 2010, premiering it that October. "I was looking to expand myself spiritually, in a way," she told Deadline of the impetus behind "The Talk." "I felt a little bit stuck, and I felt like I was afraid of public speaking, and it would be an interesting way to challenge myself."

That challenge turned into nearly a decade of on-air time, so it came as no surprise that, when Gilbert decided to leave the show in August 2019, she couldn't hold back her tears. It was an emotional goodbye prompted by an equally difficult realization: she needed to spend more time with her family and strike a healthier work-life balance. "This is hard to do and something that I have been struggling with for a while and going back and forth," Gilbert said of the real reason why she was leaving "The Talk," per People. Further explaining it to Variety, she noted she could no longer balance "The Talk" with her other projects, including "The Conners." "Something had to give," she admitted.

Shortly after her 2011 split from Alison Adler, Sara Gilbert began dating musician Linda Perry. Despite her prior claims that she wasn't sold on the idea of marriage, the actor decided to take a leap of faith and marry Perry in 2014. The duo then welcomed son Rhodes Emilio in 2015. They were overjoyed by his arrival, with Perry gushing on Twitter, "The feelings are enormous."

Unfortunately, Gilbert's attempt at marriage didn't end as she'd anticipated and, in December 2019, TMZ confirmed that she had officially filed for divorce, listing the date of her separation from Perry as that August. Speaking with People after the breakup, the musician explained that she and Gilbert were doing their best to provide their kids with a happy home life and, as she put it, were "evolving into something else." Sara Gilbert and Linda Perry's split was finalized in December 2024, but as Perry told People earlier that year, the exes were still very much in each other's lives. "We're never not going to be a family," Perry shared. "There doesn't feel like much of a separation because we're always together."