Friends star Lisa Kudrow at 60: Body image, beauty and more in her own words
The Hollywood actor has shared a lot of wisdom over the years.
Lisa Kudrow has turned 60 years old.
The actor is popularly known for playing Phoebe Buffay on the hit American sitcom, Friends, which went on for 10 seasons.
Kudrow has also starred in The Comeback, and films such as Booksmart, The Boss Baby, Dr. Dolittle 2, and Hotel For Dogs, and is the executive producer for the US version of the television series Who Do You Think You Are?
The Hollywood superstar has spoken widely on living a well-rounded life – here are some of the things she’s shared about body image, beauty and more…
Happiness is the best skincare secret
The comedy trailblazer has said she’s too afraid to do Botox or plastic surgery.
During an interview with Glamour Magazine in 2014, she said: “It doesn’t mean I won’t ever do it, but it all scares me a little too much. I think everyone’s beautiful when they’re smiling. So I try to be happy. Drink in the good stuff.”
Prioritise your friends
She then went on to talk about friends, and why her real-life relationship with Friends co-stars Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox has stood the test of time.
“We had lunch together every day for 10 years, and it just mostly feels like, well, that wasn’t enough time at all; I want more, please. When we get together for dinner now, it feels like, Ahhh. There is a bond that is there forever,” Kudrow told Glamour.
Embrace the way you look
Kudrow has spoken about her struggles with body image and why seeing herself on-screen next to her former co-stars made her feel self-conscious.
“You see yourself on TV, and it’s that, ‘Oh my God, I’m just a mountain of a girl’,” she said on the WTF With Marc Maron podcast in 2019.
“I’m already bigger than Courteney and Jennifer, right? Taller, bigger. Like my bones feel bigger. I just felt like this mountain of a woman next to them.”
Kudrow told the Podcrushed podcast that in her “late 30s or 40s”, she began embracing the way she looked.
“I just realised, ‘Oh no, it’s OK, this is just what I look like and that’s OK’,” she said.
Get to know other parents
Kudrow, had her son Julian with husband Michel Stern in 1998. Since then, she’s learnt a lot about the art of parenting.
“My first rule of parenting is get to know other parents,” she said in an interview with The Saturday Evening Post in 2014.
“It’s so unfair that kids aren’t allowed to go through a little something. Kids are overly scrutinised and that’s really too bad for them.
“One week I heard, ‘Oh, your kid’s not able to focus. And I’ve been noticing it for a while now.’ ‘A while?’ ‘Yeah, like two weeks. You ought to look into medication.’ Fortunately there were other mothers to talk to about it.”
Change the way you see rejection
The Emmy-winning actor knows a thing or two about dealing with rejection.
“With any rejection, you can’t help but consider how correct people were for rejecting you,” she told Glamour.
“What helps? Having someone you respect who thinks you’re good, so the story is: Well, they think I’m good, so I’ll keep going. [My improv classmate] Conan O’Brien completely helped me through.”
