Culture

Roseanne star Sara Gilbert explains why her on-screen son wears dresses

Jan 07 2018
Written by Joseph McCormick

The star of the reboot of ‘Roseanne’, Sara Gilbert, has explained why her on-screen son wears dresses.

Gilbert says Darlene’s son Mark, played by Ames McNamara, is not trans but is based on real-life kids she has known who dress that way.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Gilbert said: “He’s not a transgender character. He’s a little boy.

“He’s based on a few kids in my life that are boys who dress in more traditionally feminine clothing. He’s too young to be gay and he doesn’t identify as transgender, but he just likes wearing that kind of clothing and that’s where he is at this point in his life.”

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She goes on to say that the character wears dresses throughout the nine-episode revival.

But she also says that one episode, in particular, focusses on it “heavily”.

She adds: “We did a lot of research because we wanted to make sure and do it properly,” she said. “This character is not transgender.”

Going on, Gilbert, who is a star of the show as well as an executive producer, says she wanted to create the character as she thinks it “represents the world”.

“We can do it through the dynamics of the family,” she added.

John Goodman (Getty)

“I know kids like that and it seemed like a great character. One kid in particular that I know is so sweet, funny, charming, and great. In a way the character– that’s one element of the character that he dresses that way, but he’s also based on this kid I know in a lot of other ways. I don’t want to pigeonhole him and say just because he dresses this way that’s the only thing about him. He happens to dress that way but he’s an amazing, creative, brilliant kid, which you will see, and so is the kid, Ames, who plays him.”

The revival will air in March and stars Roseanne Barr, John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf and Michael Fishman.

Lewis Hamilton, the reigning Formula One World Champion, last week apologised for a social media post where he yelled at his young nephew, mocking him for wearing a princess dress.