Jennifer Coolidge nearly turned down her role in ‘The White Lotus’
The career of Jennifer Coolidge has seen a great resurgence recently after she took on the role of Tanya McQuoid in Mike White’s award-winning TV series The White Lotus. However, Coolidge recently revealed that she almost never accepted the role in the first place.
“I turned down White Lotus to begin with,” Coolidge told Glamour. “I was trying to get out of it because there was no way I was going to do White Lotus after what I’d been through during Covid.” Naturally, Coolidge had been trepidatious about getting back to work after the difficulties of the pandemic.
However, she has a close friend to thank for giving her the courage to take on her recently acclaimed role. Coolidge went on: “But a friend of mine said, ‘For once in your life, you’re just going to have to do it. It’s the biggest mistake of your life if you don’t. You have to do this, Jennifer. It’s too stupid to turn this down.’”
She added: “I kept saying to her, ‘I’ll do it six months from now when I feel good about myself.’ And what crazy thinking that is—I could have blown it. I would have blown it.” It would have been a deep shame, not only for Coolidge but for her new fans as well, if she had not plucked up the courage to perform in Mike White’s celebrated TV show.
Coolidge also admits to trying to “control things” rather than throwing herself out of her comfort zone. “I didn’t feel good about myself, so I thought I could control the moment and go, ‘No, I’m not doing it. I’ll do it later,’ which Mike White couldn’t have done,” she said. “They were already getting ready for production. They couldn’t have delayed it.”
It’s understandable that Coolidge lacked confidence seeing as her acting career had drastically stalled, but thanks to a newfound boost of energy as a result of her friend’s encouragement, she took on the role and changed her fortunes. Best of all, though, is the fact that taking on The White Lotus looks to have taught Coolidge a thing or two about what she can and cannot control.
“So I think not trying to control things,” she added. “And when an opportunity comes, don’t undo it. A lot of people are self-sabotaging. We undo great things that are coming our way and ruin it, because we’re insecure or something. It’s ironic, but I’ve waited all my whole life for a moment like that. And then I almost ruined it.”
