The Most Obviously Fake Quotes From That Matt LeBlanc Interview About His ‘Dark Period’

Robert Kessler
·Editor
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Matt LeBlanc (Photo: Getty Images)

The Internet is abuzz with headlines from a Mirror interview with former Friends star Matt LeBlanc claiming he “almost had a nervous breakdown” following the 10-year run of the show that made him a star. There’s only one problem.

The interview never happened.

A close read of the Mirror’s piece and LeBlanc’s supposed quotes should have raised more than just a few eyebrows.

“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. I couldn’t believe it. I knew from that moment there was nothing that would ever stop me from loving her — even if she crashed my Ferrari.”

“Even if she crashed my Ferrari.” Alright, no one talks like that.

In the interview, “LeBlanc” “claims” it was his daughter Marina’s diagnosis with cortical dysplasia that was mostly responsible for his “dark period.”

“My daughter was diagnosed with a problem with her head. It was a very dark period.”

Cortical dysplasia is a congenital abnormality of the brain; it is not a mental disorder. “A problem with her head” immediately sticks out as an odd way of describing his child’s condition. (Now 11, Marina’s symptoms have mostly subsided.)

And then there’s also this:

“Don’t they say what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger?”

Yes. “They” do say it. Everyone says it. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” is perhaps the most overused cliché in the entirety of the English language.

No one talks like this.

As for the claims that he nearly suffered a breakdown: LeBlanc did give an interview to Entertainment Weekly in 2012 where he told a very similar story.

“The expectation on Joey was so high, it was so stressful,” he shares. “And then to go home and be like, ‘What’s going to happen with our daughter?’ It was a very, very hard time. I almost had a nervous breakdown.” Once Joey was canceled, he told his agent to hold all calls for a year. “It had been 12 years of nose to the grindstone,” he explains. “I made a lot of money. I was in a position where I could retire. I want to just be with my little girl and figure out what my life is. … It ultimately turned out to be the best decision. I learned a lot about myself. I matured quite a bit. I developed a bond with my little girl.”

Anyway, we can all probably agree that Matt LeBlanc never namechecked his Ferrari.