Roseanne Barr’s Daughter Was a Troubled Kid — Now She’s a Doting Mother of 5 Living a Private Life in the Wilderness

• Roseanne Barr’s daughter, Jennifer Pentland, was a troubled child who was put into institutions for troubled teens.
• Barr and her child had a strained relationship.
• Pentland later learned how it is to be a mother when she became a mom of five, and she reconciled with Barr.

Roseanne Barr’s third child, daughter Jennifer Pentland, opened up for the first time about her traumatic childhood in January 2022. She revealed she spent five years in and out of different facilities for troubled teenagers in the ’80s and ’90s.

Pentland disclosed they confined her in psychiatric institutions, reform schools, and a wilderness boot camp because of her defiance, brought about by the pressures she felt from her mother’s newfound fame starring in the hit TV show, “Roseanne.”

Jennifer revealed in her memoir, “This Will Be Funny Later,” that her mom and dad, Bill Pentland, placed her in institutions after behavioral and education experts recommended it. She added:

“I was getting bad grades, and I was mouthy, [hurting myself] and smoking cigarettes. Just depressed.”

She also disclosed that she and her older sister, Jessica Pentland, had both been sent to a psychiatric hospital in Los Angeles after stealing their mother’s vehicle for a joyride. “I think there was a fear of us spiraling out of control,” Jennifer explained.

The Colorado native and her famous mother initially did not get along. Part of the reason was that the ABC sitcom “Roseanne” was based on their family’s real-life dynamics.

In the series, Jennifer and Jessica were portrayed by the characters Becky and Darlene, and their younger brother, Jake Pentland, was portrayed by D.J. Their mother played a strong-willed and supportive parent in a solid marriage. However, their on-screen life differed entirely from the family’s off-screen life.

Barr divorced the father of her three kids, Bill, in 1990—they got married in 1974. The former couple’s union ended after Barr found fame in Hollywood.