Friends star David Schwimmer, popularly dubbed as Ross Geller in the sitcom, revealed that it almost ruined his life. The 49-year old actor claimed that he struggled to balance his life and his fame. He said the series had a devastating effect on his personal life.
Schwimmer recalled his days when he turned into a global star at 27. He said: “ It was pretty jarring and it messed with my relationship to other people in a way that took years, I think, for me to adjust to and become comfortable with” reports news.com.au.
He said he used to avoid interaction with his fans and became a recluse.
“As an actor, the way I was trained, my job was to observe life and to observe other people, so I used to walk around with my head up, really engaged and watching people.”
He said he used to hide from the people. But with all of that, he thought excelling for new projects.
“The effect of celebrity was the absolute opposite: it made me want to hide under a baseball cap and not be seen. I realized that after a while I was no longer watching people; I was trying to hide,” he said.
“I was trying to figure out: How do I be an actor in this new world, in this new situation? How do I do my job? That was tricky,” he added.
In a report by OK, Schwimmer made an admission that he turned down the lead role in 1997 film Men in Black, which was a massive success. Later, Will Smith signed the movie.
“About a month before production, I get the call about Men in Black, which was a direct conflict with directing that film. And I just said, ‘I can’t’. These are my closest friends in the world – this is their first shot at a movie, my first shot at directing. It wasn’t even like a choice.”
