Initially known for her childhood role as the caustic Darlene on Roseanne, Sara Gilbert has carved out an impressive career in Hollywood, co-producing and co-hosting The Talk and starring on/producing the Roseanne revival and later spin-off The Conners. Gilbert is also an out lesbian, married to former 4-Non Blondes singer Linda Perry.

On a 2013 episode of The Talk, Gilbert opened up about it all:

So, some of you may know that when I was a teenager, I dated Johnny Galecki for a little while, who played my boyfriend and husband on Roseanne, and I thought he was super cute and had a total crush on him, and we started dating, and he would come over, and we would make out, and then I would start to get depressed. Johnny felt badly, I think, and started to take it personally and didn’t know what was going on. So I eventually told him that I thought it was about my sexuality and he was super sweet about it. I started dating a woman who was like 18 years older than I was, who was also in the public eye, and it was something that people could have found out about. No one knew at the show for years, and Johnny held the secret the whole time, and I just felt like always so scared [about], if it came out, what could happen. Would I lose my career? Could I ever play a straight role again? When I talk about my sexuality on the show or in public, I still feel really scared, so I’ll try to act confident or I’ll make jokes about it, but there’s still a piece of me that goes, ‘Well, what is this costing me in career?’ And it’s not that I’m not thrilled to be who I am and so grateful to have the life that I have, because I really am. But, for example, even when I got engaged, there was a piece of me that was like, ‘Oh, wow, I’ve gotta say this now to everybody. I want to live a true life, and beyond that, I guess I just want people to know that we do often say things like ‘it gets better’ — and it does get better. And like I said, I have an amazing life. But I want people to know that there can still be a struggle with it, and that’s okay. It really is like a process. There can be a part of you that doesn’t want to be different or feel scared. And that is maybe more important than any of it.