Lisa Kudrow revealed a somewhat heartbreaking truth about her time filming Friends.
The actress, who played the hilarious, beloved Phoebe Buffay in the sitcom, said during an appearance on the Podcrushed podcast that she became insecure about her body for the first time due to the show.
“I thought I was just really skinny. I can do whatever, [but] no, especially in high school. And I look at pictures and say, ‘Wow, pictures really distort reality,'” she said. “And it wasn’t until Friends that I realized, ‘Oh, I don’t look like I thought I looked.'”
“And that’s what was so jarring, and that’s when it was like, ‘Oh, I’ve got to actually lose weight? I have to diet? Shoot,'” she continued.
Asked what triggered the insecurity, Kudrow said it was seeing the bodies of co-stars and friends Jennifer Aniston (who played Rachel Green) and Courteney Cox (who played Monica Geller).
“It was just seeing myself on the show and seeing myself in clothes and seeing Courteney and Jennifer in clothes,” Kudrow said.
She added she thought the other actresses looked better than she did, and initially thought it was due to their knowledge of tailoring. Soon, she said, she saw “It’s not just about tailoring.”
“And I’m not trying to say I was overweight, either. I was not. I just had no idea the shape of my actual body,” Kudrow explained.
Now, however, Kudrow said she has learned to accept and love her body.
“I just realized, ‘Oh no—it’s okay. This is just what I look like. That’s okay. Do what you need to do to be healthy, but this is your body and it’s okay,'” she said.
Friends ran for 10 seasons, from 1994 to 2004.
Rosa Sanchez is the senior news editor at Harper’s Bazaar, working on news as it relates to entertainment, fashion, and culture. Previously, she was a news editor at ABC News and, prior to that, a managing editor of celebrity news at American Media. She has also written features for Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue, Forbes, and The Hollywood Reporter, among other outlets.
