Nearly 25 years after Friends came to an end, Lisa Kudrow says she doesn’t believe anyone actually cared about her on the hit show.
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During her recent interview with The Independent, the actress spoke about her time as Phoebe Buffay during the series’ 10-season run.
“Nobody cared about me,” she declared. “There were certain parts of [my talent agency] that just referred to me as ‘the sixth Friend.'”
Kudrow further shared, “There was no vision for me, and no expectation about the kind of career I could have. There was just, like, ‘Boy, is she lucky she got on that show.'”
Despite her thoughts about her popularity on the show, Kudrow did have a base of those who loved her “Smelly Cat” singing.
While appearing on the show, Kudrow won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.
Just before her interview with The Independent, Kudrow reflected on her Friends character during a chat with Interview Magazine. She stated that Phoebe Buffay wasn’t a “ditz” as some may have thought.
“At the time, it was like, ‘She’s such a ditz. How is it that you only play ditzes?'” Kudrow recalled. “And I thought, ‘Is she a ditz?’ To me, she wasn’t,”
Kudrow Previously Reflected on How Her Time on ‘Friends’ Helped Her Acting Career
While appearing on Today in 2024, Kudrow spoke about how Friends helped her acting career.
“Because I was on Friends, I got to create my own shows that didn’t have to be as big as Friends,” she explained. “So I could do something like The Comeback or Web Therapy, and that was really fulfilling.”
She also declared, “I won a lottery being on Friends.“
Kudrow then said that Friends was so popular due to the chemistry she and her castmates had.
“We loved each other,” she pointed out. “Going to work every day was heaven. It was too good to be true, but it really was.”
Reflecting on her career since Friends, Kudrow said, “All I ever wanted to do was be able to support myself as an actor. That was the goal.”
She went on to add that Friends was everything she needed and more. “Not only that, but I was working with people that I loved.”
Along with Kudrow, other Friends stars included Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Matthew Perry, Courteney Cox, and Matt LeBlanc.