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Katheleen Turner has appeared in a variety of movies and TV shows. The one role often overlooked by fans is Turner’s appearance on Friends. In three episodes, the star of Body Heat appeared in Friends as Chandler Bing’s parent, Helena Handbasket/Charles Bing. Those last weeks, Marta Kauffman mentioned his regrets in misunderstanding the character. Kauffman is not the first to talk about it, however. In 2018, Turner addressed the role and how poorly the show had aged. She even shared how the production team approached her about the guest spot.
Kathleen Turner said ‘Friends’ hasn’t aged well
Kathleen Turner has the same complaints about Friends that many fans have now. The famous actor sat down for an interview with Gay Times and openly discussed how badly the show has aged, especially when it comes to LGBTQ representation.
Turner said the series quickly went from a sitcom to a phenomenon. Still, she insisted fans never watched her for social commentary. Things have changed. New fans of the show have pointed to the blatant homophobia, a lack of proper representation and a lack of racial diversity as a series of problems with the series.
The famous actress revealed exactly how she was asked to guest star
Turner never auditioned for the role of Helena Handbasket. She told The Gay Times that she had been approached to appear on the show. The team behind Friends presented her with the role as an opportunity to be the “first woman, playing a man playing a woman”.
Turner first appeared as Helena in 2001. The three episodes in which Turner appeared occurred during the show’s seventh season. The episodes were part of the preparation for Chandler and Monica’s wedding and how Chandler would handle his parents’ attendance at the event.
Helena’s character has been referenced many times over the show’s 10 seasons. Chandler has often called his parents’ divorce very traumatic. Chandler’s mother, Nora Bing, also appeared in several episodes. Morgan Fairchild played the role.
Marta Kauffman has issued an apology for misinterpreting Chandler’s parent
For years after Friends aired its finale, there was a bit of ambiguity about who Helena was supposed to be. If you go by the way Helena was talked about on the show, you’d think she was a gay man who worked as a drag queen. Turner seemed to have the same idea, and fans largely accepted that explanation when the storyline first unfolded.
Kauffman has since apologized for misrecognize Chandler’s parent and clarified the debate. Helena was not a drag queen. Instead, she was transgender. During an interview on The ConversationKauffman said, “Pronouns weren’t something I understood yet. We therefore did not refer to this character as “she”. It was a mistake “,
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Kathleen Turner revealed how she was approached to play Chandler Bing’s father in “Friends” – Noufelle FR