Riches to Rags: David Raether’s Journey from ‘Roseanne’ to Homelessness–and his Battle Back

In 2001, David Raether had everything. He was making $300,000 a year at his dream job as a writer for the hit sitcom Roseanne—one of TV’s all-time top series. He was happily married with eight children, had a nice house in a wealthy neighborhood and half a million dollars in the bank. But just a few years later, Raether was homeless, broke and divorced. He got by on free samples at Whole Foods and worked gigs he got off Craigslist.

In this candid Skype interview: On The Marc Media’s Marc Silverstein talks exclusively with Raether about his riches to rags journey, and how he managed to get his life back on track.

After all, what do you do all day when you have no job and no home? In Raether’s case, he spent a lot time in Starbucks, waiting for others to leave newspapers to read. Yet, he still sees comedy and inspiration through all of it, as homelessness taught him that he was “more resilient and more resourceful” than he ever imagined. He even managed to kept his dating life going, despite a lack of a permanent address.

David Raether’s book, “Tell Me Something, She Said” is available on Amazon and Kindle. He also writes about his journey on the website Priceonomics in an article called, What It’s Like To Fail. His website is www.davidraether.com