What Really Happened To Matthew LeBlanc
Matthew LeBlanc is best known as Joey Tribbiani from the legendary sitcom "Friends." His lighthearted humor and womanizing ways were cemented by his signature phrase "How you doin'?", and millions of people across the world tuned in to the numerous adventures he embarked on alongside Lisa Kudrow, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, and Matthew Perry. The show was a massive hit that brought the stars fame, and of course, fortune.
On all ten seasons of the TV juggernaut, LeBlanc played the part of a goofy, fun-loving character, but in real life, when the cameras were off, LeBlanc was quietly struggling with fame, and experienced a slew of personal issues that diverted his attention away from his career. By the mid-'00s, the "Friends" star's life had changed dramatically, and the actor's career took a different path. And he was okay with that. As he told Watch magazine in 2020, "I'm not looking to be an A-list movie star. I'm happy where I am. I feel successful. And I feel fulfilled."
So, what really happened to Matt LeBlanc? Let's get into it.
Matt LeBlanc stepped out of the spotlight
Matt LeBlanc was one of the six lead actors on "Friends," playing the affable doofus Joey for 10 full seasons. Thanks to the show's immense popularity, he became a global superstar, a household name who could no longer step out in public without drawing a crowd.
On a 2020 episode of "The Kelly Clarkson Show," LeBlanc recounted one "Friends" mania moment in particular that stuck with him. He remembered flipping on the news one day only to see bird's-eye view shots of all six "Friends" stars' homes. "There was no information, no news, really. Just showing the houses," he said.
After "Friends" and spinoff series "Joey" came to a close, LeBlanc took a much-needed break from acting. "I really didn't think about work at all," he shared in a roundtable for The Hollywood Reporter. On top of that, he took a much-needed break from the public eye. As he reportedly said in the Mirror, "For years and years, I barely left the house. I was burnt out. I wanted to not have a schedule, not be somewhere." (LeBlanc later tweeted that he did not give the outlet an interview.) In 2011, he made his return to the small screen with the series "Episodes," and followed that with "Top Gear" and "Man with a Plan."
His daughter had health issues as a baby
Matt LeBlanc and future ex-wife Melissa McKnight welcomed a baby girl named Marina to the world in 2004. According to the Mirror, when Marina was still learning to crawl, she was diagnosed with cortical dysplasia. According to Children's Health, "Cortical dysplasia occurs before a child is born, when developing brain cells, or neurons, fail to reach the parts of the brain for which they are genetically destined. ... This condition is one of the most common causes of epilepsy and seizures."
Looking back at that time, LeBlanc told The Telegraph in 2014, "I didn't feel like being funny. I had a lot going on in my personal life." According to the outlet, Marina's condition improved when she was still a baby. LeBlanc also said someone who was in the family's inner circle apparently sold information about his daughter's condition to the press. Understandably, the actor was not happy that this was made public without his approval, but he managed to rein in his response. "If someone messes with your infant child, that instinct is very hard to suppress. I chose wisely. Nobody got hurt," he said.
He put his career on pause for six years
Matt LeBlanc was accustomed to a busy lifestyle while filming "Friends," and after the wildly successful sitcom came to a close, he immediately thrust himself into filming the spinoff show, "Joey." After that, he was ready for a breather. "I wanna take at least a year to not do anything, and that turned into six years, I was enjoying myself," LeBlanc said in a The Hollywood Reporter roundtable. He went on to say he was very happy during his time off, and cherished spending time at home with his daughter, Marina. "We make breakfast, go horseback riding, hiking, I really try to offset this computer age kid thing that's going on now with as much time outside," he reportedly said to the Mirror. "Spending time with her is the best thing I've ever done. We have a great bond and it's the best thing in my life." In that same article, he shared, "I remember when my daughter, Marina, was born. The second I laid eyes on her, I was in love, and I had never felt that way before."
Having a sitcom megastar for a dad sure has its perks, but that is not to say the sky is the limit when it comes to things like birthday requests. In 2016, LeBlanc told People that his daughter wanted him to use his connections to invite Rihanna to attend her birthday party. "I was like, 'I'll get right on that, sure,'" he quipped.
A night at a strip club made headlines
Matt LeBlanc's reputation as a womanizer reached fever pitch after word got out that he apparently got too handsy with a dancer at a nightclub in 2005. LeBlanc publicly apologized for his behavior.
"The stripper was all over me, took off her top and wanted to perform a private dance, LeBlanc said to The Sun (via Female First). "She was in my face, pushing her breasts into me and grabbing my hands to go all over her body," he said. He then blamed his actions on the fact that he had been drinking that evening, but ultimately accepted responsibility. "If I had been sober perhaps I would have acted quicker but I was drunk," LeBlanc reportedly stated. "I knew I was wrong."
Metro reports that the dancer, Stephanie Stephens, went on to file a lawsuit against LeBlanc in Los Angeles Superior Court, citing comments he made about the incident that were published in the National Inquirer were examples of slander. She alleged that she suffered from lost wages after LeBlanc spoke out about their encounter.
Matt LeBlanc's marriage came to an end
The aforementioned night out with friends at a strip club torpedoed Matt LeBlanc and Melissa McKnight's relationship. In a 2005 interview with the National Enquirer, the "Friends" star recounted, "The stripper was all over me. I acted like a fool in allowing myself to be led astray and placed in such a horrible situation and I feel ashamed." In spite of his admission of guilt, LeBlanc was not able to salvage his relationship and his personal life quickly began to unravel. "As a family man, I've asked myself, 'How could I have been so stupid and naïve to get myself into such a situation with a stripper?'" LeBlanc told the outlet.
It was LeBlanc himself who filed for divorce from McKnight in March 2006, citing irreconcilable differences. "It was very sudden," a friend of McKnight's told People. "She was absolutely blindsided by what transpired." LeBlanc's publicist stated, "The dissolution is amicable. They remain devoted parents and friends." Details of the divorce were finalized in September. Shortly thereafter it was revealed that LeBlanc and his "Joey" costar Andrea Anders were involved in a relationship.
He had an active dating life
Matt LeBlanc's character on "Friends" was quite the ladies' man, and after rising to fame on the hit sitcom, the actor garnered the same reputation in real life. As noted by the Mirror, LeBlanc has an extensive dating history and has been linked to a number of high-profile women over the years, including Minnie Driver, Kate Hudson, Brandi Glanville, and Playboy Playmate Tonya Poole.
In 2003, he married model Melissa McKnight, but their marriage came to an end just a few years later. Per E! News, he went on to date Andrea Anders, his co-star from the spinoff show "Joey." Their relationship flourished for years, and the two ended up staying together until 2015. That's not to say it wasn't messy: In 2010, LeBlanc met British actor Holly Magrath on the set of "Episodes," and the two supposedly became romantically involved while he was still married. According to the Daily Mail, Magrath claimed LeBlanc said his relationship with Anders was "on and off."
The TV star continued to pursue relationships with women he encountered while at work. LeBlanc met television producer Aurora Mulligan on the set of "Top Gear," and the couple dated for almost six years before breaking up in February 2022, according to The Sun.
Matt LeBlanc kept earning millions
Matt LeBlanc dipped out of the sitcom scene for a while following "Friends" and "Joey," but that certainly didn't affect his wallet. The actor continued to earn millions of dollars while sitting at home, devoting time to his daughter, and keeping out of the public eye.
Each cast member of "Friends" was earning a jaw-dropping $1 million per episode during the final seasons, and the work LeBlanc put into the sitcom continued to generate huge profit for the actor well after the show went off the air. In 2015, USA Today reported that "Friends" reruns continued to generate $1 billion a year for Warner Bros. a full decade after the show ended. Each of the cast members was reportedly earning 2% of the profits during syndication, which equated to $20 million a year. "Friends" continued to rerun and was eventually released on Netflix, which added even more money to LeBlanc's ever-growing fortune. In May 2021, LeBlanc reunited with Lisa Kudrow, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, and Matthew Perry for the "Friends" reunion. Variety reported that each cast member apparently earned $2.5 million for the one-night special.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, LeBlanc has amassed a mind-blowing net worth of $85 million. Not bad for a guy who, as co-creator Marta Kauffman shared on HBO's "Friends" reunion special (via The Sun), only had $11 to his name when he tried out for the part.
He had to prove he wasn't Joey Tribbiani
If it was not for Matt LeBlanc, there is a good chance that the role of Joey Tribbiani would've ended up markedly different. On an episode of the "Write On" podcast, co-creator Marta Kauffman shared that when LeBlanc joined the "Friends" cast, he shaped the character's personality in a big way. "We didn't originally intend for Joey to be stupid, but Matt LeBlanc played stupid so well that it became part of it, it became part of the character," she explained.
Evidently, LeBlanc played stupid too well. So much so, some people apparently assume he was not acting on the sitcom. "Because of the character I played on 'Friends,' I played a sort of dimwitted, or dumb guy Joey, and people a lot of the times will talk to me slowly, and make sure I understand what they're saying," LeBlanc once shared with talk show host Fredrik Skavlan. While this could be frustrating, LeBlanc seems to have found the silver linings in these assumptions about his intelligence. "I always get a kick out of that because I feel like I have the advantage in any conversation," he shared. Needless to say, he's not the type of guy who might confuse potpourri for potato chips.
Matt LeBlanc's Friends spinoff didn't take off
The character of Joey on "Friends" was a success of epic proportions, but Matt LeBlanc was unable to find his footing by playing the same character in the spinoff show, "Joey." As LeBlanc said in a roundtable for The Hollywood Reporter, "The pressure was incredible, there was just no way, it couldn't perform like 'Friends' did." As TV Insider recounted, after a mediocre first season, NBC only invested in 13 episodes for Season 2 before yanking it off the air entirely. They made another attempt to gain traction with the show by bringing it back in March 2006, but officially pulled it from the network when the return episode only snagged 4 million viewers, which reflected a severe drop when compared to the 18.5 million viewers that tuned in to the series premiere of the show.
Critics were quick to slam LeBlanc for his role in the spinoff. "Joey is still a lovable dummy, but over the summer the ratio of lovable to dumb appears to have changed for the worse," wrote Tom Shales of The Washington Post. "At times the script makes him out to be such an idiot that he's not only unsympathetic but also a nagging nuisance." As for the show itself, Shales stated, "Nearly all else does fail, including LeBlanc's overworked and overtaxed boyish charm."
Though "Joey" did not take off like its predecessor, it was still good to its star. As LeBlanc told The Guardian, ""I made a f***ing sh**load of money, so call it a failure all you want."
He wasn't ready for Friends to end
Matt LeBlanc reached heights of success rarely achieved by other actors. By the time "Friends" ended, he and his co-stars were some of the biggest names on the planet, each raking in $1 million per episode. Suffice to say, it was a once-in-a-lifetime gig, and LeBlanc recognizes that. "I never wanted to run from Joey," he once told The Telegraph. "I'm proud of him, not ashamed. He changed my life."
As previously noted, LeBlanc needed a breather after his life was changed in a big way by "Friends" and "Joey," and he put his personal well-being over his career. According to the Mirror, he said in 2016, "Most actors call their agents and say, 'What's going on?'. I'd call mine and say, 'Please lose my number for a few years.' It was a very dark time. I almost had a nervous breakdown." (After this report made the internet rounds, LeBlanc tweeted, "Hey,to clarify,I never had a nervous breakdown nor did I do an interview with the Mirror in the UK.")
During an actors' roundtable for The Hollywood Reporter, LeBlanc admitted he was not in favor of pulling the plug on the hit sitcom in the first place. "I didn't wanna stop doing it. It had become literally the greatest gig in the world," LeBlanc said. "It was a group decision."
He hosted a show that was full of drama
It was no secret to fans that the co-stars of "Friends" were also very good friends in real life. They established a bond that truly resembled that of an extended family, and they shared both on-stage and off-stage love for one another. During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Matt LeBlanc gushed about how happy he was during his reign as Joey on the show. "It was a great time," LeBlanc said. "It was a big huge family, it was fun."
The behind-the-scenes dynamic on the reality series "Top Gear" was a different story. After sexual misconduct allegations were made against his co-host Chris Evans, LeBlanc told The Times, "I didn't realise I'd be stepping into the middle of a media sh**storm." As per The Guardian, Evans soon parted ways with the series. Though there were reports about LeBlanc supposedly telling the show he would leave if Evans didn't get the boot, Evans maintained this was not the case. Of Evans, LeBlanc told The Times, "I didn't know he was leaving. I get along fine with the guy." Per the BBC, the charges against Evans were eventually dropped.
Matt LeBlanc stopped watching Friends reruns
On a 2019 episode of "The Tonight Show," Matt LeBlanc shared that he's not one to flip on an old episode of his beloved television show. He said that he used to like watching "Friends" reruns, but things have since shifted for him. "I have a hard time watching it these days," he told Jimmy Fallon. The late-night host seemed caught off guard by the confession and countered that he watches "Friends" and "Seinfeld" all the time, calling them "comfort food." After Fallon asked LeBlanc why it isn't the same for him, LeBlanc replied, "Yeah, because it makes me feel like I'm 100 years old." All that aside, LeBlanc holds the memories of making the series near and dear. "It was a blast, I tell ya we had a good time. It was pretty fun," he said.
LeBlanc isn't the only one that doesn't binge-watch "Friends" reruns like so many of his fans do. In fact, some of his co-stars not only don't make a habit of revisiting the show, but are pretty fuzzy on the show in general. Courteney Cox, for example, has said she doesn't really remember filming episodes of the long-running hit. And when Cox's remarks came up on an episode of "Radio Andy," Kudrow conceded, "Yeah, Courteney and I are completely in the same boat. We don't even remember what the episodes were, and I know I haven't seen all the episodes."