Lisa Kudrow: Everything Good

LIsa Kudrow is the first to admit her world is "everything good," thanks to the enormous success of "Friends." But here she reveals the more intimate details of her life -- the alienation she felt in high school, the anti-semitism she faced in college, the one thing she fights about with her husband and the special off-camera bond she shared with Courteney Cox Arquette and Jennifer Aniston.

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The guards at the Warner Bros. lot are very careful before letting you in. Your car is subject to full inspection and when you say you are going to Stage 28 where "Friends" is produced, the walkie-talkies start humming. A drive-on pass is given, and another security guard meets you by the hangar-like stage. He quietly uses his walkie-talkie to let someone know Lisa Kudrow's "guest" has arrived. Someone comes and accompanies you inside, and there is Lisa, more recognizable as Phoebe, the somewhat ditsy blonde "Friend." She is by the food table looking for something to eat. None of the other five "Friends" are around--they all worked in the morning. Only Kudrow, 39, gets to spend her afternoon talking to a reporter.

When "Friends" is on hiatus, Kudrow, like many of the others in the show, makes movies. She's appeared in Albert Brooks's Mother, with Mira Sorvino in Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, with Christina Ricci in The Opposite of Sex, as Billy Crystal's wife in Analyze This and Analyze That, and with Diane Keaton and Meg Ryan in Hanging Up. She'll next play the wife of porn star John Holmes (Val Kilmer) in the drama Wonderland; in August she stars as a Jewish woman who inherits a record label stocked with hardcore rappers in Marci X; and later this year she'll co-star with Gwyneth Paltrow in Don Roos's Happy Endings.

Kudrow takes a bite of her sandwich, grabs a handful of caramel popcorn, lights up a cigarette, and makes an excuse for herself before any questions are asked. "I'm not that articulate. Or succinct. I have opinions, but I won't have them in a public forum."

LAWRENCE GROBEL: Do you have fears about being interviewed?

LISA KUDROW: Anything I say about myself will usually involve other people, and I don't have a right to discuss their stories. And no matter how much I trust you, I can't control what the public gets out of what I say.

Q: Have you had bad experiences with the press, where you've been misquoted?

A: Worse than that. During one interview, where I was asked if I'd like "Friends" to come back, I said, "I hope it does, it suits my lifestyle. Now that I've said it out loud, it probably won't happen." It got picked up as: Kudrow Said Show Will Return. Then I had five other people--we hadn't talked yet, we were still on hiatus--asking me, "Why are you saying the show's being picked up? We haven't talked. You don't have that right." What I said was printed accurately, and still it wound up making other people who were saying, "No, we're done," look bad.

Q: With the astronomical amount of money you're making on "Friends"$1 million each an episode do you think the show will continue past its contractual conclusion?

A: Next season is the last.

Q: Did you feel like you won the lottery when you were cast in "Friends"?

A: Yes, after the first year.

Q: That was before your salaries went through the roof. Once they did, did it feel a little weird?

A: Yes, and a couple of us even got nervous driving, like we could have an accident. Or flying. Certain fears got heightened because we felt it was just too much luck in one spot--something bad would have to balance it out.

Q: Do you still feel that way?

A: No. There are other surprises you don't expect that come along with fame. Like thinking whatever you've got going on emotionally is going to get fixed. That doesn't happen at all.

Q: Still, having money can't hurt.

A: It's a nice thing not to be worried about, I'll say that a hundred thousand times. It's everything good.

Q: Are you and Jennifer and Courteney truly close friends?

A: Yeah.

Q: DO you eat lunch together every day?

A: Yeah.

Q: Do you like to gossip?

A: Sort of. We spend a lot of time talking about the world and whatever's going on. When we were getting married, we'd talk about getting married.

Q: What attributes do they each possess that endear them to you?

A: Courteney doesn't have a mean bone in her body. You can't make her insult someone. She just won't. But she's really honest, and if something comes up, she takes care of it immediately, which is great. She's not afraid of conflict, and she's not combative. You talk it out with her. Everything she tells you is coming out of love and respect, and I love that about her. She's everything good. And Jennifer--she's very emotional, spiritual, loving and supportive. Whatever you say, she's going to find a way to support you with it. That's how loyal she is. Even if you said you murdered someone, she'd find a way to support that, because you're a friend. Well, maybe that's a bad example.

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