‘Friends’: Lisa Kudrow Put More Effort Into Her Friendship With Her Co-Stars Than Her Marriage
Friends is a classic 90s sitcom that follows a group of six friends in New York City. The show lasted for 10 years from 1994 to 2004. A large part of its success was due to the real-life friendship between the cast members. In fact, it has even been said that actor Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe Buffay) put more effort into her relationship with her co-stars than her own marriage.
Who is Lisa Kudrow married to?
Kudrow got married in 1995 to French advertising executive Michel Stern. They have one son named Julian.
The pair met in the 1980s when Stern was dating Kudrow’s roommate. According to the Daily Mail, Kudrow admitted that she had a crush on him when they first met, but nothing happened between them. Stern dated Kudrow’s roommate for two and a half month. Then, Kudrow and Stern met again six years later and began dating.
Kudrow and Stern have been married for 25 years now, which is a rarity in Hollywood. She once told Glamour how she and Stern make their marriage work.
“When [Michel and I] decided to get married, we understood: We’re not promising to love each other forever, because you can’t do that, but we are promising to work on whatever problems come up. We’re committed to our marriage working,” she said. “It turns out, after you have a history, there’s such a bond, and love takes another shape.”
She also advocates for couples doing things independently outside of their relationship. Kudrow explained, “I think people get in trouble [when they assume they’re] supposed to be one unit, in sync about everything. [Marriage] is like being on a team. Each teammate is different, but you have the same goal.”
Matt LeBlanc said Lisa Kudrow put more effort into her friendship with her co-stars than her marriage
Perhaps Kudrow’s “independence” rule about marriage was a part of what made Friends a success. The cast members were friends even while not filming, and this was because, as Matt LeBlanc (Joey Tribiani) shared, Kudrow put a lot of effort into her friendship with her co-stars.
“She said that she worked harder on these relationships than she did on her marriage,” LeBlanc recalled, according to a Vanity Fair article from 2012.
The ‘Friends’ cast is known for their enduring friendship
A lot has been said about the chemistry between the cast members of Friends on the show. However, even after Friends ended, the cast members still kept in touch with each other.
Kudrow told Glamour that she regularly had lunch with Jennifer Aniston (Rachel Green) and Courteney Cox (Monica Geller) for years after Friends ended. Additionally, LeBlanc and Matthew Perry (Chandler Bing) are still buddies in real life.
LeBlanc also once described the cast like his family. He told People, “Jen’s like my little sister. Courteney and Lisa are like my big sisters, but Jen’s like my little sister. Matthew’s like my little brother, and David’s like my big brother.”
