Heavy/Peacock Andy Cohen
Andy Cohen did not hide his shock over a “Watch What Happens Live” guest’s confession.
On the June 20, 2024 episode of his Bravo late-night show, Cohen asked guest Sandra Bernhard about her experience working with Morgan Fairchild on the 1990s sitcom “Roseanne.”
Fairchild played Marla, the lesbian girlfriend of Bernhard’s character Nancy Bartlett in a three-episode story arc on “Roseanne” in 1992.
To Cohen’s surprise, Bernhard admitted that she was “not nice” to Fairchild on the set of the ABC comedy series. She then proceeded to apologize to her co-worker from 30 years ago.
Here’s what you need to know:
Andy Cohen Was Stunned by Sandra Bernhard’s Confession
After Cohen asked her what it was like working with Fairchild, Bernhard, 69, gave a surprising response. “That’s one of my biggest regrets that I wasn’t nicer to her,” Bernhard admitted to the Bravo host. “I wasn’t. I was a little dismissive of Morgan, and to this day, would like to say to Morgan, you are incredible to work with, you went there, we were the first gay couple on TV unlike everybody thinks everybody else was. We were. You were fabulous and you are on the right side politically.”
“I owe you an apology,” she added as she looked straight into the camera. “I adore you. And thank you for putting up with my snotty little attitude.”
Bernhard admitted that she was consistently not nice to Fairchild on the “Roseanne” set.
A stunned Cohen asked, “Really? You were a snot to her? And that has sat with you. And you’ve never reached out to her?”
Bernhard said she “didn’t really know how” to reach out to Fairchild before now. “I think this is the time,” she said. “She will watch [the show], and she’ll hear it and she deserves it. She’s a great lady.”
When Cohen asked what was going on with Bernhard at the time that caused her to be mean to Fairchild, she replied, “I don’t know! Everybody was kind of not nice to her.”
“Nooooo!!!!” a stunned Cohen responded.
“I’m calling myself out honey, along with everybody else,” Bernhard said.
After the WWHL episode aired, Cohen tagged Fairchild on Twitter, now X, with the clip of Berhard’s apology. Fairchild replied, “Hi, Andy. … I’m very touched by @SandraBernhard’s words. Very nice of her. Yes, it was a difficult set for me, but that’s show biz. I already follow her on X, but she doesn’t follow me. She can DM me any time & I’d say ‘Let’s grab coffee’. Love to you all💗🌷💗.”
On June 22, Bernhard replied to Fairchild on X. “Thank you Morgan for your kind response to my apology,” she wrote. “You have always been a groovy open talented person & you deserve all the celebration & love people shower you with. you champion those who need it the most. hats off lady we will break it all down over a cup of Joe asap!”
Morgan Fairchild Previously Said Everyone on the ‘Roseanne’ Set Was ‘Terrific’
ABC/YouTubeMorgan Fairchild and Sandra Bernhard on “Roseanne” in 1992.
Bernhard previously told Dallas Voice that the storyline with Fairchild “was sort of a lark at first” but that it “evolved.” The Nancy character was originally married to Tom Arnold’s character Arnie before coming out as bisexual. “They wouldn’t let me kiss Morgan Fairchild under the mistletoe — we had to cut the kiss — so that’s how far we’ve come in terms of what you see sexually on TV,” Bernhard said in 2018.
Fairchild, 74, has spoken about her “Roseanne” role many times over the years. She described the role as “very breakthrough” in a 2018 interview with Pride Source. “When they offered it to me, I knew that the last person in the world that anybody would see walking through that door after the big buildup of ‘Sandra has a new girlfriend’ would be Morgan Fairchild. That’s the last person they’d expect,” she said.
The “Falcon Crest” alum also spoke about the role in a 2023 interview on “The Behind the Velvet Rose With David Yontef” podcast.
“Well, you know they called and offered it to me, and my agent was kind of on the fence about whether I should do it because really a lipstick lesbian had never been done,” Fairchild told Yontef in the interview.
She added, “I thought it was eye-opening. I thought it was a chance to create a discussion in society you know because it was a very hot show, and I knew it’d be water cooler talk. So, I thought it was a good chance to open up a discussion and it was funny.”
“Roseanne” ended its original run in 1995. In 2018, Bernhard reprised her role as Nancy on the “Roseanne” reboot. The series has since spun off into “The Conners,” which is in its sixth season on ABC.
Yontef also asked Fairchild if she would consider a guest role on “The Conners.”
“I mean, I’d go back,” Fairchild told Yontef. “They haven’t called. I mean very upfront, I mean they haven’t called so they should. I love them. When I was there, I loved doing the show when I was there. John Goodman was such a doll and Lori Metcalf and everybody, I mean it was wonderful. Sara Gilbert was a doll, you know, always been a sweetheart. It was a lot of fun you know. Everybody was terrific.”