Friends star Lisa Kudrow has revealed how much she and her co-stars still make from the show, more than 20 years after the finale – titled The Last One – aired
Lisa Kudrow and her Friends co-stars still make millions from the sitcom – more than 20 years after it finished.
The Friends star, who played Phoebe Buffay on the show, became one of the most famous stars on the planet after bagging the role in 1994. She starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer and the late Matthew Perry for 10 seasons.
More than 20 years after the grand finale, titled The Last One, was aired, Friends has become a timeless classic, and a billion-dollar franchise with endless lines of merchandise released around the world. Repeats of the show is constantly shown on TV and streaming platforms like Netflix.
Asked why she continues to rake in $20 million a year in residuals, she said: “Because Phoebe Buffay was so great?” The star also explained why the show is still a staple all these years later, noting that she rewatched it all herself when her co-star Matthew Perry died in late 2023 at the age of 54.
Lisa told The Times: “After Matthew died I watched the show again. Before, I only saw what I did wrong or could have done better, but for the first time I truly appreciated just how great it was.
“Because there was a genius at work. And whatever any of us do in the future, we will never experience something like that again. I felt I did OK, but Jennifer and Courteney? Amazing. David and Matt? They had me laughing so hard. And then Matthew – he was just beyond us all.”
It all comes after Lisa made the heartbreaking admission that “nobody cared” about her during her time on Friends. Despite being the first member of the cast to win an Emmy – for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 1998 – Lisa says it wasn’t until she starred alongside Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal in 1999 comedy Analyze This that the offers began to roll in.
She told The Independent: “Nobody cared about me. There were certain parts of [my talent agency] that just referred to me as ‘the sixth Friend’. 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’.”
Lisa, who is starring in the third and final season of her HBO series The Comeback, recently recalled how Phoebe was “very far” from who she was as a person. But over the space of 10 years, Lisa says “a little bit of her came into me.”
She told Interview Magazine: “At first, Phoebe was very, very far from me. It took a lot of work to justify the things she would say and do. Not in an irritating way – it was fun.
“Over the course of 10 years, a little bit of her came into me. I lightened up a little more and read some books on spirituality and things, just to try to understand her.”
Have you joined Threads? Follow Daily Star to keep up to date on all things showbiz here.
Want all the biggest Showbiz and TV news straight to your inbox? Sign up for our free Daily Star Showbiz newsletter.
