Lisa Kudrow reveals who helped her overcome struggle of playing Phoebe in 'Friends'

While American actor Lisa Kudrow nailed her role as Phoebe Buffay in the beloved sitcom 'Freinds', playing the character wasn't easy for her. The star admitted that she struggled in her early years on the show while playing the lovably flaky free-spirited character.

She credited one of her co-stars from the show, who helped her overcome the struggle of playing Phoebe, and it is none other than actor Matt LeBlanc, who played the role of Joey Tribbi in the insanely popular sitcom, reported People.

During a recent episode of Kevin Nealon's YouTube series 'Hiking With Kevin', Kudrow and Nealon went for a hike in the woods, where the actor recalled the difficulty she felt while playing Phoebe at the beginning of the NBC sitcom, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this month.

"I had played dumb girls before but it wasn't really me," Kudrow explained of her role.

"I feel like, 'sh-t, I tricked them in the audition.' I was the only one who could cope with the audition process and that's how I got it, I think. So I had to work hard at being Phoebe," she added.

Kudrow was "struggling" at nailing the offbeat Phoebe even after three seasons of the show.

However, that all changed thanks to LeBlanc, who came to her rescue and gave her a much-needed pep talk.

"I remember Matt LeBlanc going, 'What's going on with you?'" she recalled.

"And I said, 'I don't think I have it. I don't know what I'm doing.' And he went, 'You're her, relax, you got it. You've been doing this f-cking character for three years. You're working too hard, that's your problem. You don't need to work this hard, relax.' He was right," the actor added.

On being asked if she noticed a changed in her acting from season 1 to season 5, she surprised Nealon with her response, "I haven't seen the show."

"You've never watched it?'. You'll wanna watch it," the host said.

"I should, I hear it's good," the 56-year-old actor said.

The actor received many awards for her 10 years as Phoebe. She was nominated for an Emmy for outstanding supporting actress six times, taking home the award once in 1998. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe in 1996.

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight in May, Kudrow recalled the pilot episode as her favourite memory from the beloved sitcom.

"We were like little puppy dogs, just climbing all over each other and playing games and wanted to be together all the time. It was fun," she said.

Kudrow told People in 2017 that she "sometimes" likes to watch bloopers from the show. "They make me laugh," she said at that time.

Apart from Kudrow and LeBlanc, the show also starred Jennifer ston, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer. The beloved sitcom ran for 10 seasons on NBC between 1994 -- 2004. It followed the story of six friends in their 20s and 30s who live in Manhattan, New York City.

'Friends' made its TV debut on September 22, 1994. The comedy series is officially leaving Netflix and will debut on HBO Max in 2020.

( With inputs from ANI )