Roseanne Barr’s reign of terror: TV writer claims actress ‘degraded’ staff on hit show by making them wear numbered shirts so she could ‘fire them without learning names’ – and says she underwent ‘electric shock therapy’ to treat mental health issues

A TV writer who worked on Roseanne Barr’s show in the ’90s has claimed the comedian would make her staffers wear numbered shirts so she could fire them without having to learn their names – claiming it was ‘shock therapy’ had undergone due to mental health problems. in 1993.

Stan Zimmerman – who has helped write episodes for a slew of TV hits including The Golden Girls, Gilmore Girls and Roseanne – recently opened up about what it was like working with 71-year-old Roseanne in his new book The Girls : From Golden for Gilmore.

According to the acclaimed screenwriter, the actress has developed a fierce reputation for cutting so many people from her eponymous sitcom.

Stan claimed that Roseanne, along with her co-star and then-husband, Tom Arnold, once had T-shirts made with different numbersand required everyone on set to wear them.

That way, he wrote, they could fire people without even using their names; instead, he said they would tell people to leave using the number on their shirts.

“The series was known for its high turnover rate,” he wrote.

“Early on, we heard from writers who had kept the show going on how to survive Roseanne’s layoffs.

“They advised us to find the tallest person on set and stand behind them. If Roseanne couldn’t see the whites of your eyes, she couldn’t fire you.

“On the first day of rehearsals, Roseanne and Tom, with a gleam in their eye, told all the writers to get in line.

‘They made T-shirts for us. Numbered T-shirts. Since my birthday is October 13, I counted and queued up to get number 13.

‘While we were waiting, the mood of the staff changed. Information trickled out as to why they numbered the shirts so Tom and Roseanne didn’t have to learn our names and could just point and say, “Number 13, you’re fired.”

He said Tom and Roseanne “thought it was hysterical,” and while it “didn’t really sink in at the time,” he called their behavior extremely “humiliating.”

But Stan admitted he still had the shirt to this day, jokingly adding, “I cherish it.”

While discussing his time on the show, he also claimed that actress Laurie Metcalf refused to talk to the writers on set because she was so “afraid of losing her job.”

“The actors rarely talked to the writers when we came to the stage to watch the afternoon performances,” he continued.

‘I didn’t know that at first. So I marched straight to Laurie Metcalf to tell her I was a big fan.

‘She just grinned at me and didn’t engage in dialogue. I later heard that she was afraid of losing her job if she talked to a writer.’

The writer also claimed that Roseanne was once absent from filming for two weeks because she had to undergo “electric shock treatments.”

‘YOUp until (then) I didn’t know they still did that. I thought it was something done to old Hollywood movie stars like Frances Farmer,” Stan admitted.

DailyMail.com has contacted Roseanne’s spokesperson for comment.

Roseanne has previously revealed that she suffers from dissociative identity disorder, which she believes stems from abuse she suffered as a child at the hands of a German neighbor, who was hired by her mother.

‘He tortured me every day. I came home and said to my mother, “He’s hitting me.” Then he locked me in his garage, called me a Jew, and said Hitler was right,” she said. Esquire in 2001.

“And my mother said, ‘You’re making this up!’ And to prove me wrong, she hired the man to work in our home.

“She hired this Nazi just to prove me wrong. That’s how you get a multiple personality disorder.’

She added: “It comes from being a child. It’s a child’s invention, wWhen you are at that level of emotional development, you can no longer tell the difference between what is in your head and what is outside your head.’

Roseanne started her career as a stand-up comedian, but rose to fame after landing the lead role in Roseanne.

The show, loosely based on her life, premiered in 1988 and was a huge success.

It lasted nine seasons – during which she won an Emmy and Golden Globe for her leading role – before ending in 1997.

Roseanne then launched her own talk show from 1998-2000, called The Roseanne Show.

She also starred in a few more TV shows and movies, embarked on numerous comedy tours, created her own reality show, released multiple autobiographies, and landed a slew of hosting gigs over the years.

Additionally, she reprized her role on Roseanne when the show returned for one season in 2018.

In recent years, Roseanne — who is a very public supporter of former President Donald Trump — has become very outspoken on political issues, and has gotten into hot water for controversial comments she has made on numerous occasions.

In his book, Stan also talked about what it was like to work on the iconic TV show Golden Girls.

He recalled how Estelle Getty – who played Sophia Petrillo in the hit series – struggled to remember her lines when the show first started.

At the time, he said people on set assumed Estelle was “going to Hollywood parties” and that she “didn’t study hard enough.”

However, he now believed the actress was dealing with the early stages of dementia.

Years later, she was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia and died from the disease just three days before her 85th birthday in 2008.

Stan also recalled being angry when he saw her costar Betty White seemingly making fun of her in front of the audience on set.

He said that when Estelle made a mistake and they had to break, Betty walked across the stands where the live audience sat and started making jokes.

‘Because I was close to Estelle, I thought at the time, “Why is she making fun of Estelle?” I was very protective,” he reflected.

However, when he thought about it, he realized that Betty – who played Rose Nylund for seven seasons – was probably trying to distract the audience so they wouldn’t notice Estelle’s problems.

“I think Betty took the attention away from Estelle and went to the audience so that the people there would look at her and give Estelle a moment to collect herself and look at the script,” he added.