Darlene on 'The Conners' Is Mostly Single, but Is Actress Sara Gilbert?

We've watched actress Sara Gilbert, who played Darlene on Roseanne and on its reboot, The Conners, grow up. She went from a tomboy kid to a brooding, sarcastic artist, and by the end of Roseanne, she was pregnant and getting married to her longtime boyfriend David (Johnny Galecki).

In her real life, Sara Gilbert followed a similar trajectory with marriage and children. Eventually, Darlene divorced David and moved back home. In the spirit of life imitating art, we're curious about Sara's path. Is Sara Gilbert still married, or is she following in the steps of her character?

In April 2019, Sara made the difficult decision to leave The Talk, a show she created and co-hosted since 2010. While making this announcement on the show, Sara said, "... if I’m being honest about it, my life was slightly out of balance. I wasn’t able to spend as much time with my three kids as I’d like, or take time for myself."

Then, eight months after leaving The Talk, Sara filed documents to legally separate from her wife of nearly six years, Linda Perry. According to documents obtained by People, Sara cited "irreconcilable differences as the reason for their split" and wanted no spousal support to be awarded to either Linda or herself.

Nearly two years after they separated, their divorce was finalized on Oct. 15, 2021. They share joint legal custody of their 6-year-old son, Rhodes Emilio. According to court documents via People, Sara and Linda have been "ordered to regularly confer and share information concerning Rhodes's care, wellbeing, physical and mental health, education, and welfare." Neither will receive spousal support.

Linda Perry is probably best known as the lead singer of the '90s alternative band 4 Non Blondes, whose hit song "What's Up?" has been belted out in various karaoke bars across the country. Linda left the band in 1994. In a Rolling Stone interview about her band Deep Dark Robot, Linda said she was not too jazzed about her time in 4 Non Blondes: "I’m not supposed to tell you this and my publicist said to me ‘please don’t say this’ — but I wasn’t really a big fan of my band."

Linda's songwriting has not been limited to her own work. Since her time in 4 Non Blondes, she has written for incredible acts like Pink, Christina Aguilera, Gwen Stefani, and more, but she admits to losing interest in that as well. She also told Rolling Stone, "If I hear another label tell me that they need a song for the radio I’m going to poke out their eyeballs with a fork. Nobody I work with wants anything out of left field. They just want to keep following the same game plan.”

That Rolling Stone interview was from 2011, and things can certainly change in 10 years. In 2014, Linda had her own show called Make or Break: The Linda Perry Project, which featured Linda searching for the next big act to sign to her own record label. A year later, Linda was being inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

In perhaps what was undoubtedly one of her greatest musical achievements, Linda collaborated with Dolly Parton in 2018. She and Dolly wrote the Golden Globe-nominated song "Girl in the Movies" for the Netflix movie Dumplin'. This eventually led to writing the film's entire soundtrack. Linda told The Hollywood Reporter that “any moment with Dolly is the best moment."