Helen Baxendale found Cold Feet and Friends fame 'a lot to cope with'
Cold Feet and Friends star Helen Baxendale has told how she found fame "quite a lot to cope with", and, on reflection, her life was "just incredible and sort of bizarre" when she was starring in the US sitcom.
Helen Baxendale found her Cold Feet and Friends fame "quite a lot to cope with".
The 56-year-old actress catapulted to stardom as Rachel Bradley in the ITV comedy-drama and she went on to achieve worldwide acclaim when she landed the recurring role of Emily Waltham in Friends.
Attention on Helen skyrocketed when her character Rachel tragically passed away in Cold Feet, and she believes the iconic scenes were "one of the last national drama moments" on British TV.
Speaking about Cold Feed, she told Radio Times: "It was a huge part of my life and I was really proud to be part of it.
"Being in Manchester, the whole production team became friends.
"When my character died, the public reaction was insane.
"You don’t have the same level of interest in a single programme any more, so it was one of the last national drama moments.
"But there was a fame aspect that I didn’t enjoy, plus everything around Friends, it was quite a lot to cope with."
Helen hadn't seen Friends before she auditioned for the role of Emily - the second wife of established character Ross Geller, who was played by David Schwimmer - and she believes it was a blessing, because she would've been "absolutely petrified" trying out for the part.
She added: "That level of fame comes at a cost. Some people are really good at dealing with it and others aren’t.
"It doesn’t just affect you, it affects your family and friendships. It didn’t sit easily with me.
"But looking back, that part of my life is just incredible to me and sort of bizarre.
"When I went for the part of Emily, I hadn’t watched Friends so I didn’t know the enormity of it, which is good because I would have been absolutely petrified.
"I had never done anything on a live stage before, so the fact that I turned up on this Hollywood lot, and they were filming it in front of a live audience till 2am, feeding people pizzas, it was an amazing experience."
Helen previously admitted she "didn't really want" the Hollywood life that her Friends co-stars, David, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow had.
Speaking in 2022, she told The Independent: "I think I saw where all that eventually takes you.
"Not that I was heading there at all. But I saw those people in Friends, for example, and thought, 'I don’t think that life is really what I want.'
"They were hounded. They weren’t able to walk into a supermarket and buy something."
