'Nobody cared about me': Friends star Lisa Kudrow says she felt like 'an afterthought' among the six cast members

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Lisa Kudrow has suggested she was treated as an afterthought compared to the rest of her Friends costars.

Speaking in an interview, the actress claimed that Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, the late Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer eclipsed her in popularity while the series was still on television.

'Nobody cared about me,' Kudrow told the Independent. 'There were certain parts of [my talent agency] that just referred to me as "the sixth Friend."'

As Friends became a megahit from its second season, several of her costars leveraged that success to secure choice film roles, but Kudrow appeared to think the same kinds of deals eluded her.

'There was no vision for me, and no expectations about the kind of career I could have,' she said. 'There was just, like, "Boy, is she lucky she got on that show."'

Despite feeling unappreciated earlier in her career, Kudrow has since found enduring success beyond Friends, including on her HBO series The Comeback.

Lisa Kudrow has claimed that 'nobody cared about' her amid the success of Friends, while her costars were given lucrative film deals

Kudrow starred alongside Matt LeBlanc, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Jennifer Aniston and the late Matthew Perry on Friends from 1994 to 2004

Kudrow, who co-created the series, was joined by her co-creator, Michael Patrick King, for the interview ahead of its third season.

He appeared astonished to learn that she was not drowning in offers amid the success of Friends, and pointed out that she was also the first member of the cast to win an Emmy, which she received for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 1998.

According to Kudrow, it was only when she starred as the wife of a psychiatrist treating a mob boss in the 1999 comedy Analyze This, which starred Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal, that she began to get more compelling offers. 

'That’s when the agents and business people started circling, wanting to put me in romantic comedies and things,' she said, even though she was certain that the strategy wouldn't work because she didn't consider herself 'adorable' enough.

Before moving up into more prestigious film roles, Kudrow was mostly offered low-budget independent films, such as 1997's Clockwatchers, or small supporting roles, as in Albert Brooks's 1996 comedy Mother.

Despite the slim pickings, she remembered being honored to work with her Clockwatchers costars, Parker Posey and Toni Collette, as well as her Mother costar and director, Brooks. 

Kudrow ventured a theory that she had been harmed by reports that she had taken the lead role in getting her costars to join together and collectively bargain when it came time to renegotiate their contracts ahead of season three.

The main cast managed to ink a deal with Warner Bros, which had wanted to only negotiate with each actor individually in hopes of paying some of them less, which led them to make each equal, increasing salaries for each subsequent season, with a major jump from $125,000 per episode to $750,000 per episode in seasons seven and eight. 

'There were certain parts of [my talent agency] that just referred to me as "the sixth Friend,"' Kudrow told the Independent. 'There was no vision for me, and no expectations about the kind of career I could have'

She denied rumors that she was the ringleader of the cast's collective bargaining ahead of season three, which eventually led to each star earning $1 million per episode in seasons nine and ten. However, she feared that her talent agency was angered by the reports

By seasons nine and ten, each actor was making an astounding $1 million per episode, a feat that has rarely been equaled.

But according to Kudrow, her talent agency was upset about rumors that she had taken the lead on the successful negotiating strategy, even though she denied being responsible.

'I absolutely was not the ringleader,' Kudrow said. 'And that was reported, and it wasn’t true. My team were very angry about that. It was leaked sort of as a warning to other clients like, "Don’t do something like that."' 

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She hoped that people would think she was 'really smart' because of the successful negotiations, 'But my team were like, "No, this is not good! We’re furious that they’re saying this about you."'

Ironically, her agents stood to make significant financial gains from her windfall, as they are traditionally paid around ten percent of what their clients earn.

In another recent conversation with Lily Tomlin for Interview Magazine, Kudrow clarified that Phoebe was not particularly like her, despite how she became so identified with the role. 

'At first, Phoebe was very, very far from me,' she said. 'It took a lot of work to justify the things she would say and do. Not in an irritating way - it was fun.'

Over time, though, the part began to shift as she became more comfortable with it. 

In another recent conversation with Lily Tomlin for Interview Magazine, Kudrow clarified that Phoebe wasn't particularly like her, despite how she became so identified with the role. Above, in 1994

Kudrow is promoting the third and final season of her HBO series The Comeback. She stars on the mockumentary as the B-list actress Valerie Cherish, who struggles to revive her career after falling out of favor in the industry

The show premiered in 2005, a year after Friends ended, but a second season didn't materialize until 2014, and it was more than a decade after that before the third season was made. Above, on season three of The Comeback

'Over the course of 10 years, a little bit of her came into me,' Kudrow continued. 'I lightened up a little more and read some books on spirituality and things, just to try to understand her.'

Kudrow also pushed back on the idea that she 'only play[s] ditzes,' and admitted that she doesn't even consider Phoebe a ditz anymore.

'In 1994, it was like, "I love her. She’s such a ditz." And it’s like, yeah, OK, that was what a ditz was to us. Someone who wasn’t toeing the line,' she said.

She stars on The Comeback as the B-list actress Valerie Cherish, who struggles to revive her career after falling out of favor in the industry. 

The first season of the mockumentary aired in 2005, just a year after Friends ended, but it wasn't until nearly a decade later, in 2014, that a second season was produced. 

Now, the third and final season returns after an even longer interval to find Valerie again struggling to revive her career.