Popular culture has forever associated Matthew LeBlanc with his role as Joey Tribbiani on the long-running NBC sitcom “Friends.”
Millions of viewers around the world tuned in to watch Joey and his friends (Lisa Kudrow, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, and Matthew Perry) go on countless adventures, always ending with Joey’s signature line, “How you doin’?”
The show’s success provided its stars not only recognition but also material wealth.
LeBlanc played a goofy, fun-loving character for all ten seasons of the TV phenomenon, but behind the scenes, he was silently suffering with stardom and going through a number of personal crises that took his mind off of his job.
By the middle of the 2000s, the “Friends” star’s life and profession had undergone a radical transformation. And it was fine by him. According to an interview he gave in 2020 to Watch magazine, he said, “I’m not looking to be an A-list movie star. I’m happy where I am. I feel successful. And I feel fulfilled.”
So what ended up happening to Matt LeBlanc? Let’s get into it.
Matt LeBlanc was one of the six main performers on “Friends,” and he played the lovable klutz Joey for the whole series’ ten seasons.
The show’s massive success propelled him to international stardom; he was soon recognized wherever he went.
In a segment from the year 2020 of “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” LeBlanc discussed the “Friends” hysteria that he still remembers.
He recalled turning on the television one day to find aerial photographs of the residences of the six “Friends” actors. “Just showing the houses,” he explained, “there was no information, no news, really.”
When filming on “Friends” and its spinoff “Joey” ended, Matt LeBlanc took some time off. “I really didn’t think about work at all,” he said in a discussion for The Hollywood Reporter.
Additionally, he distanced himself from the spotlight by taking some time off. The Mirror reported that LeBlanc said, “For years and years, I barely left the house. I was burnt out. I wanted to not have a schedule, not be somewhere.” (LeBlanc later tweeted that he did not give the outlet an interview.)
In 2011, he returned to television with the series “Episodes,” and has since appeared in “Top Gear” and “Man with a Plan.”
