‘National treasure’ Jennifer Coolidge tops Time100’s most influential
Jennifer Coolidge has landed the cover of Time100 Most Influential issue — and also has a wildly unique talent for getting attention in Hollywood.
“’Let’s make a video where you and I are beating the s–t out of each other,’ Jennifer Coolidge texted me one night a few months ago,” Mia Farrow wrote for the edition honoring 2023’s most inspirational and powerful in the world.
Farrow recalls of Coolidge’s scheme, “The proposal for catching a filmmaker’s eye, like everything Jennifer says and does, was one-of-a-kind and irresistible.”
Farrow added, “I’ve got tufts of fake hair and ketchup to stand in for blood at the ready. Who wouldn’t want to be beat up by Jennifer Coolidge? She’s a national treasure.”
She continued, “So many of the qualities that have made everyone fall in love with [Jennifer] are outside of what is mainstream or expected: her eccentric mannerisms, hilarious improvisations, and, most of all, aching vulnerability. She is uncompromisingly, exquisitely herself. “
Coolidge became a sensation after winning more awards in the last 12 months for her performance as Tanya in “The White Lotus” than she won nominations for any other role in her 30-year career — then giving acceptance speeches that go viral, and stealing the show in Jennifer Lopez’s movie “Gunshot Wedding.”
The 61-year-old is an inspiration to women who wish to reinvent themselves.
She told the magazine, “It’s like I was like Sleeping Beauty, where I was locked in a box under the bed or something. And now I’m out and it’s like, ‘Well, I’m sure glad they let me out of that box, because this is way better.’”
Coolidge’s advice for younger women would be that they should worry less on being attractive to others and find their own way. “There was just like, a giant chunk of my life that was wasted on trying to get boyfriends who didn’t want me, instead of just, you know, taking care of business and, and working on my own thing,” she says.
In January, Coolidge told Page Six that she is yet to find the love of her life, but she remains optimistic.
“I think we have to really take care of ourselves and get our own thing going. And then if a guy comes in, it’s all great. Or if a guy doesn’t come in, it’s all great,” she told the outlet, although she jokes she had “hundreds” of suitors after playing Stifler’s mom in “American Pie”.
Coolidge added that she believes people relate to others who are more authentic and chaotic, “I think people really just like the honest answer, even if it’s not what you’re supposed to say.”
Those who also appear on the four covers of the TIME100 include artist Doja Cat, Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger, and actor Michael B. Jordan.
Others who are honored on the TIME100 list include: Austin Butler, Zoe Saldaña, Angela Bassett, Aubrey Plaza, Colin Farrell, Drew Barrymore, Ali Wong, Salma Hayek Pinault, Patrick Mahomes, Lionel Messi, Brittney Griner, Beyoncé, Laurene Powell Jobs, Brittney Griner, Angela Bassett and Bella Hadid.
The media outlet will celebrate the honorees at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 26 with performances from Doja Cat and Lea Michele.
Coolidge will also host an ABC special on the Time100 gala airing Sunday, April 30, at 7 p.m.
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