Lisa Kudrow initially thought Matthew Perry’s Friends character Chandler was gay
Friends stars Matthew Perry and Lisa Kudrow. (Donato Sardella/WireImage for Lollipop Theater Network)
Lisa Kudrow has said she initially believed co-star Matthew Perry’s Friends character Chandler was gay.
Kudrow, who starred as Phoebe in every episode of the hit show’s 10-season run between 1994 and 2004, spoke about Perry’s character, Chandler Bing, on podcast Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, on Monday (22 July).
Perry died at the age of 54 in October, after battling addiction to pain killers and alcohol over the years. Medical officials ruled the cause as an accident caused by the “acute effects of ketamine”.
Kudrow recalled thinking Chandler was gay after reading the script for the show’s first season.
“When I read it, I went: ‘Oh, they have a gay character, that’s good’,” she said.
“And so, at the table read, I just did a double take at him. He was such a huge [talent]. I never even in a million years could have envisioned anyone playing the character like that and with his own rhythm and everything. It’s his own.”
She also revealed that she has been able to start watching the show again.
“After Matthew died, I could start watching the show again because it wasn’t about me. It had to do with him, for some reason. And so, I have started watching Friends. Not started like season one… but there are marathons, and I have spent, at times, all day watching.”
Series creator Marta Kauffman previously confirmed that Chandler’s parent, Helena, played by Kathleen Turner, was a trans woman, despite the show repeatedly referring to her as “Chandler’s dad”.
Turner admitted: “We didn’t have the knowledge about transgender people back then, so I’m not sure if we used the appropriate terms.”
And if she was offered her three-episode role now, she would turn it down.
“Of course I wouldn’t do it now because there would be real people able to do it,” the Romancing the Stone star said.
Kudrow has previously defended the sitcom’s problematic depictions of gender and sexuality, insisting that it was “progressive” at the time.
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