Entertainment TV Jenny Pentland Opens Up About Mother Roseanne Barr's Controversies and Their Relationship Now "We communicate at all costs," Jenny Pentland tells PEOPLE. "Even if it's uncomfortable, annoying, or the timing is bad, that's the priority" By Emily Strohm Emily Strohm Emily Strohm is a Senior Editor at PEOPLE. She has been at PEOPLE for 11 years and has written nearly 40 cover stories for the magazine. People Editorial Guidelines Published on January 12, 2022 11:00AM EST Photo: Courtesy Jenny Pentland's relationship with her mother Roseanne Barr has come a long way from the once-strained dynamic they had during her teenage years. "We communicate at all costs," Pentland says of Barr, 69, in the latest issue of PEOPLE. "Even if it's uncomfortable, annoying, or the timing is bad, that's the priority." But that hasn't always been the case. Pentland, 45, was in the seventh grade when her mother rose to fame on her hit TV sitcom Roseanne. And Pentland says the pressures of Barr's instant celebrity status led her to begin "acting out." As a result, Pentland was shipped off to various facilities for troubled teens including reform schools, psychiatric institutions and a wilderness boot camp from ages 13-18. Roseanne Barr's Daughter Reveals She Has PTSD After Being 'Locked Up' in Facilities for Troubled Teens Courtesy "If you say to a parent, 'Your kids are suffering, and it's because of your lack of parenting,' they're going to say, 'Okay, what do I do? How do I fix it?' They're going to trust experts," says Pentland, who is now a mother of five sons Eitan, 21, Cosmo, 16, Otis, 14, Buster, 12, and Ezra, 18 months. Pentland, who has a new memoir This Will Be Funny Later out Jan. 18, says she and her family have worked through the difficult experience which left her with PTSD. "It was like a perfect storm," she recalls. "I played my part by being a rebellious little brat, running away, talking back." Pentland says Barr gets a kick out of reminding her of her behavior. "She'll say, 'I can't wait for your kids to act just like you did.' She likes to see me getting mine. It's hilarious," Pentland shares of her mother. Want to get the biggest stories from PEOPLE every weekday? Subscribe to our new podcast, PEOPLE Every Day, to get the essential celebrity, entertainment and human interest news stories Monday through Friday. When it comes to Barr's offensive tweets in the past — including spreading conspiracy theories about child-sex-trafficking rings and making the offensive statement about former White House adviser Valerie Jarrett that got her fired from the Roseanne reboot in March 2018 — Pentland defends her mother. "She's not an elected official, she's a comedian — she's allowed to believe whatever she sees fit," Pentland says. "It was brutal to see how devastated she was and how wrong everybody is about her." For more on Pentland's story pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE on newsstands Friday.