Sandra Bernhard is making a public apology to Morgan Fairchild.
The Roseanne alum admitted on the Thursday, June 20, episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen that she wasn’t very welcoming to Fairchild, who guest-starred as her girlfriend in Roseanne season 5.
“It’s one of my biggest regrets that I wasn’t nicer to her. I wasn’t. I was a little dismissive of Morgan,” said Bernhard, 69. “To this day, I would like to say to Morgan, you were incredible to work with.”
“You were fabulous. You’re on the right side politically. I owe you an apology. I adore you. And thank you for putting up with my snotty little attitude,” added Bernhard, who played Nancy Bartlett in the sitcom from season 4.
Fairchild appeared in three episodes of the ABC sitcom in 1992 as Marla, Nancy’s girlfriend, but according to Bernhard, the show’s cast wasn’t particularly friendly to the Flamingo Road alum.
Sandra Bernhard has a very special message for her Roseanne co-star Morgan Fairchild. #WWHL pic.twitter.com/G2r3qDJrGk
— Watch What Happens Live! (@BravoWWHL) June 21, 2024
“Everybody was kind of not nice to her,” Bernhard said to host Andy Cohen’s surprise.
Cohen asked Bernhard if she’d ever tried to reach out to Fairchild, 74, to apologize. “I didn’t really know how,” responded the comedian.
Bernhard hopes her former costar will see her appearance on WWHL and accept her apology.
“This is the time. She’ll watch it and she’ll hear it. She’s a great lady,” said Bernhard.
For her part, Fairchild has talked about relishing the role of Marla at a time when there wasn’t much LGBTQIA+ representation on screen. At the time, Fairchild’s agent warned her that playing a lesbian was “too controversial.”
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“They called and offered it to me. My agent was kind of on the fence about whether I should do it because a lipstick lesbian had never been done [on TV],” she said on the “Behind the Velvet Rope” podcast last year. “I am just this weird person that I like doing iconoclastic things. I don’t like doing the safe thing. I like doing things that are gonna shock people or make them think about something or look at you a different way.”
“I read the script. Sandra’s talking about her new girlfriend and I knew that when they opened the door and Morgan Fairchild was standing there, it was going to be the last thing anyone expected,” Fairchild continued. “I thought it was funny, I thought it was eye-opening, I thought it was a chance to create a discussion in society.”
