Jennifer Coolidge opens up about friendship with Ariana Grande and we need the reality show ASAP
Great partnership: Jennifer Coolidge and Ariana Grande. (Getty)
Jennifer Coolidge had nothing but love for Ariana Grande as she delivered a bizarre compliment to the singer.
Coolidge is enjoying a stunning renaissance, winning a Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award for her role as Tanya McQuoid in The White Lotus.
The HBO series has opened people’s eyes to her extraordinary talent, but Coolidge credits an earlier project for revitalising her career: Ariana Grande’s “thank u, next” video, in which she made a cameo appearance.
Coolidge told ET Canada about Grande: “I love that girl. She has so much cool. She’s at the beginning of her life and… she is someone that is such an unusual sort, because she’s this very, very old person in a very young body.”
She continued: “It’s really rare. I sometimes feel like I’m talking to someone ancient. Her take on things [and everything] is so advanced.
“I don’t really know how to explain her. I have never met anyone like her in my life.”
In the “thank u, next” video, Coolidge pays homage to one of her most iconic roles – Legally Blonde‘s Paulette, the slightly ditzy beauty salon worker with a heart of gold.
Back in January 2022, Coolidge told Jimmy Fallon how the video changed everything.
“You should know it was the beginning of a lot of cool things that happened for me, because I was going through a dead zone and not much was going on,” she explained.
And it is clear the admiration goes both ways. During an interview between the two on EW, Grande called Coolidge “the queen of all things funny and brilliant”, adding “I just adore you”.
Coolidge has also praised The White Lotus creator Mike White for taking a chance on her.
“Mike White, truly I just want you to know that I had such big dreams and expectations as a younger person, but what happened was, they get sort of fizzled out by life,” she said while accepting the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress.
“You have given me hope. Even if this is the end, you have changed my life in a million different ways… You make people want to live longer, and I didn’t.”
