Jennifer Coolidge gets vulnerable
Follow us on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Well, hello! I’m Yvonne Villarreal, TV writer for the Los Angeles Times and co-host of “The Envelope” podcast.
With Emmys season coming up, I’m revisiting my interview with Jennifer Coolidge, who stole the show in HBO’s “The White Lotus” as Tanya McQuoid, a grieving woman visiting a luxury resort to spread her mother’s ashes.
In this episode, Jennifer Coolidge opens up about shifting from drama to comedy (and back again), overcoming cocaine addiction in her 20s and channeling the death of her own mother to play the grieving Tanya in “The White Lotus.” Plus, she shares what she wants for Tanya now that she’s confirmed to return for the show’s second season.
Listen wherever you get your podcasts or on latimes.com, where you can also read the full transcript.
“Drugs are in some weird way a gift because your addiction is sped up so quickly that you hit your bottom. I hit my bottom at 27. … Thank God for cocaine, it all came to a head at 27. And I went to rehab, and then I actually was able to refocus my life. And in some way my life became so simple.”
— Jennifer Coolidge
Thanks, and happy listening!
Can't get enough about awards season?
For more, follow us on Twitter at @villarrealy and @IndieFocus, and for a deeper dive into the best new movies, get Mark’s weekly Indie Focus newsletter.
If you’re enjoying this newsletter, please consider subscribing to The Times.
Feedback? We’d love to hear from you. Email us at awards@latimes.com.
From the Oscars to the Emmys.
Get the Envelope newsletter for exclusive awards season coverage, behind-the-scenes stories from the Envelope podcast and columnist Glenn Whipp’s must-read analysis.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
