Kathleen Turner, who appeared on the hit NBC show Friends on three separate occasions as Chandler Bing’s (Matthew Perry) father, recently revealed that the group of them didn’t make her feel like part of the family.
Her role as Charles Bing/Helena Handbasket was first introduced prior to Chandler and Monica (Courteney Cox) getting married in season 7 of the show. Chandler discussed his father on several occasions before Kathleen’s first appearance aired in a way that was criticized by the LGBTQ community at the time (and still to this day) as being homophobic and transphobic.
The Oscar-nominated actress did a wide-ranging interview with Vulture on Tuesday, where the 64-year-old spoke about her time on one of the biggest comedy series ever.
She revealed how she never really warmed up to Matthew, Courteney or the other four main cast members (Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, Jennifer Aniston) for her own reasons.
“I’ll be quite honest, which is my wont: I didn’t feel very welcomed by the cast,” she admitted. “I remember I was wearing this difficult sequined gown — and my high heels were absolutely killing me. I found it odd that none of the actors thought to offer me a seat. Finally it was one of the older crew members that said, “Get Miss Turner a chair.”
“The Friends actors were such a clique — but I don’t think my experience with them was unique,” she continued. “I think it was simply that they were such a tight little group that nobody from the outside mattered.”
When the interviewer asked how she found them as actors and actresses, she had this to say: “I won’t comment on that.” Ouch.
Read more on her interview with Vulture here.
She played a bit part on a
She played a bit part on a sitcom that had been on for years and was nearing the end of its run. Countless other major celebrities had been involved in over a hundred episodes before Turner showed up. Was she expecting one of the "friends" to read her mind that she was uncomfortable in her shoes and wanted a chair? I can only imagine what the Friends actors were like, maybe they were all a-holes. But it does seem a bit silly that Turner is attempting this diva shtick a decade after the fact.
I think Ms.Turner has just
I think Ms.Turner has just always elected to be personified as the Diva when the cameras weren't rolling, and Hollywood Divas has notoriously mixed a blunt honesty with cattiness.