Lisa Kudrow and her husband, Michel Stern, have welcomed one child, son Julian Murray Stern, during their marriage, and the now 27-year-old played an important role in why the couple never added to their family.
The Friends alum previously revealed that Julian made it known at a young age that he did not want to have any siblings.
While it appears Lisa and Michel weren’t against having another child, admitting it “just worked out that way”, the actress confessed that Julian is forever grateful to have remained an only child.
Only child
“[He] made it clear from the moment he could speak that he didn’t want a brother or sister,” Lisa told Page Six in 2017.
“[And] it just worked out that way anyway,” she added. “But to this day, he’ll say, ‘Thank you.'”
Julian being her only child allowed Lisa to give him her full attention following his birth in 1998.
“When I became a mother, everything changed,” she told Candis magazine in October 2020. “The instant my son arrived, I thought, ‘Oh, OK, now I get it. Nothing else is ever going to be as important as this.'”
Julian grew up on the set of Friends in Los Angeles, but Lisa wasn’t fond of him seeing her in character as Phoebe Buffay.
© John Shearer“When I was there, I was there. My son was so little; he was five or six when we finished ‘Friends.’ A set really isn’t a place for a toddler to be running around,” she said on the podcast “Literally! With Rob Lowe.
“It wasn’t fun for him. He wasn’t there much, as it turns out. It was fine for a quick visit but not to spend all day with mommy. I did not like him experiencing me not as mommy. Because Phoebe was not his mother, Phoebe does not have children.”
Lisa later revealed that Julian was “impressed” when he finally got to watch Friends.
© Jesse Grant“He called me up and said, ‘So I just watched the first two episodes. It’s really good, Mom,'” she previously recounted on Late Night With Seth Meyers.
“I said, ‘Thanks.’ He said, ‘Can I ask you some questions about that?’ I’m like, ‘Yes!’ I almost started crying. I didn’t think that anyone in my family liked that show.”
She continued: “He was five when we were finished … but he did start watching when his friends at school started watching. He watched it and he was impressed.”
© Steve GranitzJulian is very close to his parents, and when he left the family home to attend the University of Southern California, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in film and TV production in 2021, Lisa was proud of the man she raised.
Reflecting on becoming an empty nester, Lisa admitted: “I think I’m handling it really well, like a mature adult, happy that our son is away… and independent. It’s hard! I think I did a good job injecting him with the right amount of fear. He’s independent and good.”
© Michael BucknerJulian has followed in his mother’s footsteps into the world of entertainment, and he recently wrapped his first TV movie, a project entitled Doomed.
Initially focused on film editing, he has also ventured into acting, with a role in the short film Seth’s Big Break 2.
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