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Jennifer Coolidge prefers her second round of success in Hollywood over her first time around because she made choices in life that likely hurt her job prospects. She isn’t talking about being canceled by the fans, though, the 61-year-old actress placed too much importance on her dating life at a time when she should have had some career strategy after her success in American Pie and Legally Blonde.
Coolidge revealed the very personal details to Jeremy Allen White in Variety‘s Actors on Actors interview. She explained to The Bear actor how she narrowly she looked at her success in the first part of her career. “Now that I’m old enough to really look back at my life and certainly my mistakes, I see a lot of those,” she said. “But I never had any strategy. I just went job to job. I have to say I made the terrible mistake of not riding the wave that I had early on.” She knew she was hot in Hollywood or what she called “a moment” because everyone wanted to work with her after her big movie success.
That’s when she got real about where she lost focus and it’s an answer that many celebrities wouldn’t even admit to — she invested in others instead of herself. “I started pursuing guys. I wasn’t paying attention. I just thought I had my whole life. I never said, “I want to do … ” I did get some jobs, but I didn’t have a plan,” she frankly shared. By the time she realized the error in her ways, her first wave of success had passed by.
“And I think that was a fatal flaw of mine, because it took so long to get anything going later,” Coolidge added, “I look back and I go, “What was I thinking?” The good news is that Hollywood gave her a second chance with The White Lotus and fans had the opportunity to rediscover her all over again. It’s a lesson learned for Coolidge, but she’s willing to share her knowledge so that other women know to value their self-worth above anything else.
Before you go, click here to see actresses over 50 who are more successful now than ever.
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