David Schwimmer reveals Friends success turned him into a recluse as he admits he struggled to cope with fame
The American actor has opened up about his sudden stardom and inner-struggles
DAVID Schwimmer has revealed his starring role in Friends left him a recluse and struggling to cope with fame.
The sitcom actor, 49, who has since reinvented himself as a director and movie star, opened up about the detrimental effects the iconic show had on his life.
During an emotional interview with Hollywood Reporter, David confessed: “As an actor, the way I was trained, my job was to observe life and to observe other people, so I used to walk around with my head up, really engaged and watching people.
“The effect of celebrity was the absolute opposite: it made me want to hide under a baseball cap and not be seen.
"And I realized after a while that I was no longer watching people; I was trying to hide.
“So I was trying to figure out: How do I be an actor in this new world, in this new situation? How do I do my job? That was tricky.”
Discussing the impact his sudden rise to fame had on his personal life, David revealed it took years to “adjust” to being a huge star.
He added: “It was pretty jarring and it messed with my relationship to other people in a way that took years, I think, for me to adjust to and become comfortable with.”
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David shot to fame in 1994 when NBC’s Friends first hit American screens.
Starring alongside Lisa Kudrow, Jennifer Aniston, Matt Le Blanc, Courtney Cox and Matthew Perry – the group were propelled to global recognition.
After 10 series of the show, the final episode in 2004, titled The Last One, pulled in a record breaking 52 million viewers across America.
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