Roseanne Barr’s daughter Jenny Pentland had PTSD after spending time in facilities for troubled teens.
Jenny – whose father is Roseanne’s ex-husband Bill Pentland – has opened up about being sent to a number of reform schools and being “locked up” at psychiatric facilities between the ages of 13 and 18 after she developed behavioural issues due to her mother’s sudden massive fame due to her role in titular sitcom ‘Roseanne’, which began airing on TV in 1988.
Jenny – who got the opportunity to write for shows like ‘Roseanne’ and ‘Childhood Thoughts’ – is releasing her memoir ‘This Will Be Funny Later’ on January 18 and it contains a detailed account of the ordeal she endured in the rehabilitation centres where she was sent by her parents upon the recommendation of education and behavioural experts.
Jenny revealed that her sister Jessica had already been sent to a psychiatric hospital before hand for stealing their mother’s car to go on a joyride.
In an interview with PEOPLE, she said: “I was locked up.
“I was getting bad grades, and I was mouthy, cutting my arms and smoking cigarettes. Just depressed.
“I think there was a fear of us spiralling out of control.”
Referring to her post-traumatic stress disorder, she added: “It was like a perfect storm. I played my part by being a rebellious little brat, running away, talking back.”
Jenny – who also has a brother Jake – overcame her troubled childhood and is now happily married to her husband Jeff, with whom she has five sons Eitan, 21, Cosmo, 16, Otis, 14, Buster, 12, and 18-month-old Ezra.
She insists she has a good relationship now with her mother Roseanne, 69, and the secret to it is to “communicate at all costs”.
Jenny, 45, shared: “We communicate at all costs. Even if it’s uncomfortable, annoying, or the timing is bad, that’s the priority.”
