Jennifer Coolidge admits her obsession with boys sabotaged her work life in the early aughts.
In a new interview with The Times, the Emmy winner reflected on scoring several hit movies at the time –– including “Legally Blonde,” “Zoolander” and “American Pie” –– but slowing down in the midst of her blossoming career to pursue relationships.
“It was this incredible wave and my surfboard was there and I got on. Then I got off,” the actress said of her success in the industry. “I sabotaged myself, and I’d say this to any young person: when the wave comes, have the guts to stay on.”
She added, “I would beg people to, you know, blow off your wedding and take that job. I was a sure bet, I got so many good jobs in a row. I have huge regrets — I was deeply depressed for a very long time.”
Coolidge, now 63, went on to explain that she felt so confident with the amount of people who were “interested” in working with her at the time that she “dilly-dallied” in her professional life.
“I wanted this guy that I was obsessed with. I wanted him to like me, so I went completely off-track,” she confessed. “I wasted a lot of time — and that moment passes. And, God, if I could live my life over again, I wouldn’t have done what I did.”
The “White Lotus” star clarified that it wasn’t “just one guy,” however.
“It was guys and, well, everyone wants certain things in their life at a certain time,” she shared. “I was trying to have relationships with men who were unavailable, or there are guys out there who really hate women deep down and I certainly dated them.”
The Golden Globe winner, who is currently single, also told the outlet that she’s certainly had her fair share of heartbreak over the years — unlike her girlfriends.
“I have friends that went to their prom in the last year of high school, found a guy, fell in love with him and still have that guy,” she explained.
“I haven’t had that luck — it has never been the right person. Also, it’s kind of limited out there. I feel like I’m a horse in the corral and I haven’t found a male horse that matches up with what I got. I feel like I need to go into some other corrals.”
Despite not having much luck in the dating world, Coolidge is happy to have found a solid support system over the years.
“The one thing I have done right in this lifetime is that I have incredible friends who I will never let go of. A lot of them I met in comedy and that really helps through life,” she told The Times.
“All the bad stuff that happens, losing parents or someone breaks your heart? I at least have these really funny people to hang out with.”
While Coolidge has mainly kept her dating life private, she has previously been linked to her “A Night at the Roxbury” co-star Chris Kattan and former actor Banks McClintock.
From 2006 to 2021, the “American Pie” star notably took a years-long hiatus from scoring any major movie roles and worked “very odd jobs” in that timeframe.
“I had no guidance at all,” she remembered. “I didn’t know how to play the game. I played a lot of highly strung rich women. People thought, ‘Oh, that’s just what she does.’”
However, in 2021, “White Lotus” creator Mike White approached her to star as Tanya McQuoid in the soon-to-be hit HBO series for the first two seasons, and she was instantly thrown back into the spotlight.
“I never thought I did anything very well. It blew my mind when people came up to me, but then you don’t even know what you did right half the time,” she said of her award-winning performance on the show.
Despite taking a significant break from acting, Coolidge assured her fans that she “really” wants to make up for lost time with new film and TV roles.
“[In the past] I wasn’t aggressive enough. If someone didn’t like me or think I was talented, I took their word for it,” she admitted.
“I didn’t have the confidence or people in my life who would say, ‘Geez, Jennifer, you can do more than play the waitress with two lines!’”
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