Anna Faris responds to Chuck Lorre’s hurtful diss about casting her in Mom
Anna Faris is speaking out after Chuck Lorre made a shocking remark about casting her in his CBS sitcom Mom.
The Scary Movie legend played Christy Plunkett, a newly sober, single mum who tries to pull her life together.
Faris remained on the show from its debut in 2013 until unexpectedly stepping away in 2020. The show went on to air an eighth and final season with Christy written out.
Lorre, who also created Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory, wrote a memoir that was published this week in which he revealed he had doubts about casting Faris in the lead role. He said his doubts were ‘proven correct’ when she left.
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"I wasn't sure Anna would be appropriate for this kind of material," Lorre writes. "Then I thought about how badly I'd bungled my working relationship with Charlie Sheen," referring to his falling out with the Two and a Half Men star.
Lorre ultimately changed his mind and told casting director Nikki Valko that Faris would be the Christy. "Someone's personal life is none of my business. The mom in 'Mom' would be, and should be, Anna Faris."
He wrote: "As the years went by, it became apparent that my initial reluctance to hire Anna was, in fact, correct."
The TV pioneer attributed her exit to ‘mysterious reasons that were not mysterious to anyone on the show’.
Lorre added that after Faris stepped away, the sitcom ‘found its true voice’.
Faris released a statement on Instagram on Thursday, sharing further details about her exit and stating that the comments from Lorre ‘hurt’.
"Yikes,” she said. “Yes, I read a few things. I really didn't see that coming. Of course it hurts. Chuck gave me a job I loved, and for seven years I never took a day of it for granted. I'm proud of what we made together, and nothing changes how grateful I am for those people and those years."
She continued: “I've been sober for a year and a half,” she continued. “I was on a show about recovery and then I lived it. Now I'm healthy, I'm working, and I'm happier than I've been in a long time.”
Faris shocked fans when she announced her departure in September 2020, a few weeks before the eighth season began airing. She had been expected to return for the season.
In a statement released at the time, Faris described her seven years on the show as ‘some of the most fulfilling and rewarding of my career’. She thanked Lorre, the writers and the cast for ‘creating a truly wonderful work experience’. She said leaving the show would allow her to ‘pursue new opportunities’.
In later interviews, Faris called the decision to walk away a complicated one and highlighted the intensity of filming a sitcom as a reason.
In June, Faris spoke on the Happy Sad Confused podcast about her decision to leave. “I do think the intensity, towards the end, I think I started to lose my focus,” she revealed.
“I never had a job — I mean, besides from waitressing for over three months before.”
She added: “It was a complicated time. I think I should work it out, probably on more podcasts. … I’m always hesitant to really chew into my experience on Mom because seven years is a huge chunk of time. And filled with any chunk of time that seven years gives. And being a part of an intense, amazing project.”
Speaking about the show’s lasting legacy, she shared: ““I have people that come up to me … and I feel really moved that I have touched lives.”
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Topics: TV And Film, Celebrity
Greg Harris