US actress Lisa Kudrow has revealed she only recently watched Friends, the iconic sitcom in which she starred, decades after its original broadcast.
The 62-year-old actress famously played the eccentric Phoebe Buffay in the hit series, which followed the lives of six close friends. Her co-stars included Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc, and the late Matthew Perry.
Despite the show’s immense global popularity throughout its 10-season run from 1994 to 2004, Kudrow had largely refrained from watching it, with the exception of a few initial screenings alongside the rest of the cast.
However, during a conversation with her former co-star Jennifer Aniston for Variety’s Actors on Actors series, Kudrow disclosed that she finally immersed herself in the programme, admitting she watched it until the early hours of the morning.
She said: “There were whole episodes that I hadn’t seen. I just couldn’t sit there at home and have anybody walk by seeing me watching a show that I’m in. Because it felt embarrassing to me.
“I have watched it now.
“Loved it with all my heart. I’d end up sitting there for three hours and then it’s like two in the morning.
“It made me so happy to watch it.”
Kudrow added that she loved the Thanksgiving episodes especially the one which guest starred actor Brad Pitt – Aniston’s ex-husband.
She later told Aniston: “And man, you’re all good. Holy cow! You were really good, Jennifer.
“It’s such a ridiculous thing to say to people. Like, of course.”
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The US actress, who stars in The Comeback, also said she would “love” to do another sitcom alongside her co-stars, Aniston and Cox.
Kudrow recently also addressed the plotline in which Ross Geller (David Schwimmer) slept with another woman while going through a rough patch with girlfriend Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston).
Ross later makes it clear he believed he and Rachel had broken up at the time of his encounter with Chloe. Rachel, however, disagrees and considers that Ross’s behaviour amounts to cheating.
Throughout the show, the sentence “we were on a break” is uttered several more times, becoming one of the sitcom’s most memorable one-liners.
Whether or not he actually was is the source of intense debate, Kudrow shared: “It’s beyond break or not. He was a bad boyfriend.”
Speaking on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Kudrow admitted she was afraid to discuss the contentious topic, but when the audience applauded, she said in relief: “Oh, you agree! Oh, I feel better. Thank you. Thank you for this. Thank you, all of you.”
Kudrow continued: “She shouldn’t have gotten back with him because he was horrible.
“To me, it’s like, I don’t care if he slept with three other women or no other women. You had a crisis at work, so you weren’t available for a few nights, and he flipped out.”
When asked if Schwimmer, who previously defended Ross’s actions, shared this view, Kudrow said: “He knows now.”
Friends won six Emmy awards, including for best comedy series in 2002, with Kudrow picking up the best supporting actress in a comedy series gong in 1998.
