Lisa Kudrow shared some surprising details about the cult sitcom Friends: more than two decades after the show’s conclusion, the actors continue to earn impressive royalties. In an interview with the British newspaper Times of London, the 62-year-old star revealed the amount of her annual payout: 22 years after the final episode, she and her co-stars—Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer—are each earning $20 million a year.
Kudrow also lifted the curtain on the atmosphere on set. According to her, the lead actors quickly became close friends, but her relationship with the scriptwriters was not easy. The actress recalled the challenges of filming in front of a live audience of 400 people: any mistake in a line was immediately noticeable, and the audience’s reactions were sometimes harsh. Lisa said she overheard the writers discussing their personal fantasies about Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox after filming, and making sexual and racist remarks, which added to the tension in the work environment.
An interesting twist occurred in 2023, when Lisa rewatched Friends for the first time after Matthew Perry’s death. It was then that she took a fresh look at the project and realized why the series had become a cult classic for an entire generation.
According to the actress, the secret to its success lies in the team’s talent:
It was all because they were geniuses. And no matter what we film in the future, we will never do anything like this again.
The actress recently returned to screens with the third season of the series “The Comeback,” for which she was nominated for the prestigious Emmy Award in the category “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Television Series.” Lisa’s personal life has remained stable over the years: since 1995, she has been married to advertising manager Michel Stern, and the couple has a son, Julian.
