Lisa Kudrow recalls ‘mean’ and ‘intense’ treatment behind the scenes on Friends
Friends remains to be one of the most successful sitcoms of all time, and while it looked like great fun onscreen, the reality behind the scenes was very different according to one of the stars.
Lisa Kudrow, who played Phoebe Buffay on the smash-hit sitcom, has opened up about what it was really like working on the show.
She previously confessed that she felt like 'nobody cared about me' even at the height of Friends mania, and that she was regularly told her career would amount to nothing.
Friends ran from 1994 to 2004, and Kudrow won an Emmy Award for her role in 1998, taking home the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series gong.
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As time has gone by, the star has reflected on that time of her life and has opened up to The Times about the alleged 'intense' and 'mean' treatment behind the scenes.
“There was definitely mean stuff going on behind the scenes, don’t forget we were recording in front of a live audience of 400, and if you messed up one of these writers’ lines or it didn’t get the perfect response they could be like, ‘Can’t the b**ch f**king read?
"'She’s not even trying. She f**ked up my line'.'”
She also accused the writers of inappropriate conversations, alleging that 'the guys would be up late discussing their sexual fantasies about Jennifer [Aniston] and Courteney [Cox]'.
"It was intense."
Despite their alleged 'brutal' bad behaviour, Kudrow confessed she tried to ignore it and just get on with the show she loved as long as it was all done behind closed doors and not to her face.
“Oh, it could be brutal, but these guys — and it was mostly men in there — were sitting up until 3 am trying to write the show so my attitude was, 'Say what you like about me behind my back because then it doesn’t matter'," she said.
Allegations of the bad behaviour of the writing team first emerged in the early 2000s by Amaani Lyle, who worked as the writers' assistant in 1999.
She filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. Television, alleging she witnessed sexual and racist remarks, and that her role forced her to take notes on everything that was said.
After making it to the California Supreme Court, the case ruled against Lyle.
According to Buzzfeed News, some of the writers admitted to making sexual comments but said they were not directed at Lyle and they had been 'a necessary part of the creative process'.
A judge in the Supreme Court ruled that the writers had not violated or broken any laws with the sexual comments because they 'weren’t specifically directed at or said about anyone in the writers room.'
LADbible Group has reached out to Lisa Kudrow's representatives and Warner Bros for comment.
Topics: TV And Film, US News, Entertainment, Celebrity, Friends
Jen Thomas