'Nobody Cared About Me': Lisa Kudrow Claims She Was Treated Like an Afterthought Compared to Her 'Friends' Co-Stars and Was Dubbed 'The Sixth Friend'
Lisa Kudrow claims she was an afterthought compared to her 'Friends' co-stars, including Courteney Cox and Jennifer Aniston.
April 6 2026, Published 5:45 p.m. ET
Lisa Kudrow claims she was treated like an afterthought compared to her Friends' co-stars, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The veteran actress, 62, believes Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, the late Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer all eclipsed her in popularity while the series was being aired.
'Nobody Cared About Me'
The actress claimed her reps did not have a 'vision' for her.
Kudrow, who played Phoebe Buffay in the hit series, said: "Nobody cared about me. There were certain parts of (my talent agency) that just referred to me as 'the sixth Friend.'"
After the success of Friends turned its lead cast into global superstars, who went on to land big movie roles, Kudrow appeared to think the same kinds of deals eluded her.
She told The Independent: "There was no vision for me, and no expectations about the kind of career I could have. There was just, like, 'Boy, is she lucky she got on that show.'"
According to the actress, it was only when she starred as the wife of a psychiatrist treating a mob boss in the 1999 comedy Analyze This, starring Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal, that she began to get more compelling offers.
Cast Salary Increases to Blame?
Kudrow struggled to land big film roles, unlike her 'Friends' co-stars.
"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.
Kudrow put forward a theory that she had been harmed by reports that she had taken the lead role in getting her co-stars 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.
Lisa Kudrow Was 'Not the Ringleader'
The cats of the sitcom scooped a huge pay deal, where they would all receive the same episode fee.
By seasons 9 and 10, each actor was making an astounding $1million per episode, a feat that has rarely been equaled.
But according to Kudrow, her talent agency was upset about rumors 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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The comedian also told how she was nothing like her 'Friends' character, Phoebe Buffay.
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.'"
In another recent conversation in Interview Magazine, Kudrow clarified that her notable TV character 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."
