How Roseanne Barr Plans to Cope with 'The Conners' When It Premieres

Roseanne Barr plans to be thousands of miles away from Hollywood when "The Conners" airs.

If you recall, Barr's ABC sitcom "Roseanne" was canceled after she wrote the now infamous racist tweet. However, the network is continuing the revival with a spin-off series "The Conners," that is to feature most of her former cast members. While appearing on "The Dr. Oz Show" Tuesday, Barr explained that she will be in Israel when "The Conners" premieres.

"I don't want to be around," Barr began. "Because I'll get drawn into a negative thing of defending myself or being angry for being mischaracterized and, you know, I don't...I want to stay away from it. I want to stay in a joyous, positive, happy place that I've worked my way to again in my life."

The actress' upcoming trip will be the fourth time she's visited the nation. She said her support of Israel is the reason "the left" consider her to be racist, because, in her point of view, that's the "left's definition of racism." During her visit, Barr explained she hopes to learn Hebrew.

"Well, I want to be able to learn Hebrew, speak Hebrew fluently," she said. "I read very slow but I know the letters and I love the letters, but I want to speak it. And also I have quite a few teachers over the years that live there and, you know, I want to study."

Oz pointed out that during the heat surrounding Barr and her controversial comments in May, the comedian blamed the sleeping drug Ambien for her offensive words. At the time, Barr had called it "Ambien tweeting." Oz asked Barr how using Ambien as an excuse affected her.

"Well, I've done some weird things on Ambien," Barr said. "I think a lot of people have too. I've heard from thousands of people about it."

"All the time that happens to me, when I go in the kitchen and there's a whole box of Triscuits laid out, eggs cracked on the wall, cheese everywhere," she trailed off. "It's a weird drug."

Oz said that Ambien can "disinhibit you," but doesn't think that gives you a "pass."

"I actually looked up Ambien," Oz replied. "Tweeting is not a side effect."

Tweeting may not be a side effect of the drug, but according to Heathline.org, Ambien (zolpidem) can cause "abnormal behaviors," such as "decreased awareness, hallucinations, memory problems, sleepwalking, sleep eating (and cooking), and even sleep driving."

Speaking of dangerous drugs, Barr claimed in a recent interview she thinks her character will die of an "opioid overdose" in the upcoming "The Conners."

"Oh ya, they killed her," Barr said on Brandon Straka's YouTube show "Walk Away" over the weekend. "They have her die of an opioid overdose. I wanted to show [opioid struggle] in the show, but I was never going to have Roseanne die of an opioid overdose. It's so cynical and horrible. She should have died as a hero or not at all... It wasn't enough to [fire me], they had to so cruelly insult the people who loved that family and that show."

Watch Barr talk about her Ambien use in the clip below.

"The Conners" premieres October 16 at 8 p.m. PT on ABC.

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