Rosanne Cash doesn't sugarcoat her harsh childhood, calling her experiences with her father's fame, addiction, multiple records of arrest, and affair with June Carter more than a little crazy in an interview with People. After meeting backstage, Carter and Johnny Cash began touring together and quickly fell in love. At the same time, in the late sixties, the country outlaw was also engaging in risky behavior with alcohol and drugs. Still, Rosanne remembers him as the greatest father to her and her three sisters.
When Vivian Liberto and Johnny split, Rosanne admits the event was heartbreaking for her mom — someone who instilled in her a "powerful sense of discipline, family, mothering and detail orientation." Alternatively, when Carter entered Rosanne's life, she was introduced to another type of woman, and someone whom she now recognizes set another valuable example. Rosanne explained, "June gave me this sense of expansiveness and how to live life as a performer." Like her dad, she wanted to write music and sing.
In her eulogy, Rosanne sweetly wrote of Carter, "She did not give birth to me, but she helped me give birth to my future," (via Country Living). However, her view of fame was slightly tainted by her father's actions. The singer-songwriter confessed to People, "I grew up thinking becoming famous was about the worst thing you could do. You went on the road, you started doing drugs and got divorced and didn't see your kids and everything fell apart."
