Writing for The Hollywood Reporter, Arnold claimed that Roseanne cracked down hard on he and Metcalf – who plays her onscreen sister Jackie, before latching onto him herself. It seems she didn't want them having a sexual relationship and acted accordingly.
‘One night while partying during pilot week in 1988, Roseanne, who was in the front seat with [John] Goodman, noticed me holding Laurie’s hand in back,’ he told the Hollywood Reporter. ‘The next morning she called me into her office and told me, “Writers cannot date actors. That’s a rule of show business.”
‘Who was I to break a rule of show business?’
But he – quite reasonably – seems to imply that Roseanne may have had an ulterior motive, due to the fact that he and the comedy queen later ended up marrying.
‘Never mind that Roseanne and I got married two years later (and lasted four),’ he wrote.
Despite giving the rebooted show a positive review, Arnold also dredged up some less than flattering anecdotes about his ex-wife’s past behavior, including claims of physical abuse.
‘Roseanne has done everything from pulling my hair transplants immediately after surgery to saying I had a 3-inch penis on SNL, so I figure if I can give the show another shot, maybe other people could too,’ he wrote.
When he starred in the Australian version of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here last year, the comedian made it plain just how he hard he felt it was to be married to the comedy legend.
The pair, who were married for four years in the early 1990s, struggled to deal with a number of issues – including his reported infidelity, and her emotional struggles.
‘First it was good,’ he told News Ltd of their marriage.
‘We really decided to get married because one day we were like, nobody likes either one of us, we should probably get married. We had a lot in common but it got crazy.
‘She had issues she has been very open about, she’s got multiple personality disorder. It is a fact that she had 27 different personalities.
‘It was a complicated life and only two of her personalities liked me, that is not a joke so I would come home and there would be somebody that didn’t like me.’
Roseanne hasn’t exactly been complimentary of Tom in past, alleging in a restraining order application at the time of their divorce that the relationship was abusive.
‘I now realize that I have been a classic battered and abused wife,’ she wrote at the time. ‘Throughout our marriage the respondent hit me, struck me, has thrown objects at me, pinched me and verbally abused me.’
In a recent stands up routine, Tom alleged Roseanne once stabbed him with a butcher's knife after he deprived her of Jenny Craig cookies.
At a 2012 Comedy Central Roast, Roseanne slammed her ex, who appeared on the show to roast her, saying ‘Jesus Christ, how many jobs do I have to get for that guy?’ and congratulated him on remarrying, saying, ‘I hope she isn’t with you for your money, I mean my money’.”
