An emotional Sara Gilbert recalls coming out to then-boyfriend and “Roseanne” co-star Johnny Galecki

Sara Gilbert opened up in an unprecedented way this week on The Talk as she shared some details about her journey to coming out publicly as a lesbian.

She revealed that while co-starring on Roseanne with Johnny Galecki, the two were more than love interests on screen. But when they would make out, Sara would grow depressed.

“Johnny started to take it personally and didn’t understand what was going on,” she said.

Sara finally told him it had more to do with her sexuality than him and he kept her secret.

“When I called him (to let him know she would be discussing this on the show today) he said: ‘I love you and I think it’s really important. I’m so proud of you. If you want, I’ll be there with you and I’ll hold your hand,’” she said.

Now engaged to musician Linda Perry, Sara admits she can still be uncomfortable being public – she had not discussed her sexuality prior to beginning on The Talk three years ago.

“When I talk about my sexuality on the show or in public, I still feel really scared,” her voice filled with emotion. “I’ll try to act confident or make jokes of it. There’s still a piece of me that goes ‘what is this costing me in my career?’”

“I want to live a true life. Beyond that, we do often say things like “it gets better” – and it does get better. I have an amazing life, but there can still be a struggle with it, and that’s OK. There can be a part of you that doesn’t want to be different or feel scared. And that is more important than any of it.”