LADIES HOME JOURNAL mag article w/ MATT LEBLANC

[jeanmachine]

Matt LeBlanc Looks Ahead
By Laura Brounstein

Daddy's Girl


""You gotta see these. These are the greatest," Matt LeBlanc says excitedly, sounding for all the world like a certain Friendly neighbor we've come to know and love. Except the star of NBC's highly anticipated Joey isn't talking about the New York Knicks, foosball tables, or even meatball sandwiches. He's referring to the tiny pink feet of his then 4-month-old daughter, Marina, whom he's gleefully de-socked. She seems pretty happy about it, gurgling and kicking zestily -- and gets even happier when he starts merrily munching on her toes.

All this activity catches the attention of Matt's wife of one year, Melissa, 39, who walks over in tight blue jeans and a floral tank top, looking more like the supermodel she was than the supermom of three she is today.

"I knew you were going to do that!" she squeals, when her multitasking husband playfully slaps her behind. The devilish, toothy grin that made us all fall for Joey Tribbiani 10 years ago on Friends animates Matt's face as the couple take their place in front of the camera for their Ladies' Home Journal cover shoot.

Matt, 37, moves seamlessly in and out of the roles of Daddy, Honey, and Star. But when the LeBlancs sit down later to chat and sip Arnold Palmers (lemonade and iced tea mixed together), Matt confides that cameras and close-ups still seem a little strange to him.



Matt Opens Up


LHJ: After 10 years of Friends, this whole star-treatment thing must be second nature for you.

Matt: I'm not -- I don't know if I'll ever be -- super comfortable with this whole celebrity "outfit." I don't like the way it fits. It's just not me. Today was different and fun, because we were together
LHJ: How did you two first meet?

Matt: I disagreeistant, Heather, and Melissa are friends, and she introduced us in 1997. Melissa had just gotten divorced, didn't even live in Los Angeles, and was playing hard to get. I had to wait it out.

LHJ: What was your first date?

Melissa: Well, I was gun-shy and uncomfortable coming off a marriage. So I said we could go out in a large group during one of my visits. I thought it would be safer.

Matt: I made sure we sat together. And then I gave you a ride home.

Melissa: [laughing] He thinks it was all about the car.

Matt: I saw the way you looked at my Jag-u-aaaar...

Melissa: It wasn't the car! He had these really nerdy, adorable, Buddy Holly glasses he wore for driving, and that's what got to me. They were just so opposite his image, you know?

LHJ: And once you started dating, did you find Matt to be Joey-esque?

Matt: Oh, that's a good question [looking with interest at Melissa].

Melissa: There are elements of Matt in Joey, but there are not elements of Joey in Matt. I was actually pleasantly surprised by how intelligent he was and not like his character. However, after living with him...

Matt: Yeah [laughing], if food falls on the floor, I have a three-second rule. Joey has a three-day rule.

LHJ: Tell me about your new show. We know that your Friends character, Joey Tribbiani, moves to Los Angeles, where his sister Gina [The Sopranos' Drea de Matteo] and her 20-year-old son, Michael [Paulo Costanzo], already live. Is Joey going to stay as sweet as he was on Friends, or will he become a slick Hollywood guy?

Matt: He'll be the guy that everyone grew to love, myself included. I don't want him to change. I want the same guy, doing the same crazy stuff, with the same logic that only sometimes makes sense. I'm Joey's biggest fan -- I really, really love to play the guy. It's so much fun, as Joey, to never have to justify a train of thought. He's like this jigsaw puzzle that fits together, but the picture doesn't quite add up. I'm really looking forward to elaborating on him.

LHJ: In what way?

Matt: Well, Joey definitely grew through the course of Friends, but you really knew the least about him. You spent a lot of time with Rachel's parents, you know all about Monica and Ross's family, and Phoebe had the whole storyline with her brother and the triplets, but Joey, you met his parents one time in the very beginning and other than his sisters being on a couple times, that was pretty much it. You never went to his house for the holidays or saw big events in his family. So there's a lot to do. Gina, Michael, and Joey Tribbiani are single adults, but they're also blood relations. They're trying to relate to each other as family and create their own traditions -- that's an interesting dynamic and one I don't think I've seen on TV before. Drea and Paulo are great actors and we're already cracking each other up.

LHJ: Does anything make you nervous about the new show?

Matt: It's a lot more responsibility. I was never really singled out before. Now it's my face up there, my character's name, and that's a little intimidating. But I wanted something that would really challenge me. I also worry that people are going to compare Friends and Joey. Friends is over. It was a once-in-a-lifetime thing, lightning in a bottle. And Joey isn't trying to be Friends. I'm really proud of Joey, and I have a cast that is going to work really hard and I can promise you that it will be funny.

LHJ: Was the end of Friends very emotional for you?

Matt: I was distraught. It was really hard, like a death. It was like a wake where they never actually put the body in the ground. We shot the final episode in January, but then we had to revisit it again and again for things like Oprah and The Tonight Show. Jennifer [Aniston] and I kind of clung together at the end. We were both having a really hard time.

LHJ: Matthew Perry told us in our May issue that he was the only one who didn't cry.

Matt: That's because he's dead inside [affectionate laughter]. I was like, are you kidding? Are you made of stone? You're going to cry later tonight, aren't you? I want you to cry here, so I can see it! But he was making jokes!

LHJ: Is that typical?

Matt: I'm so close with all of them. [Matthew] Perry can cure anything with comedy. Courteney [Cox] is the fixer, Lisa [Kudrow] is the rational one, and [David] Schwimmer's very logical. Jen is just a giant heart with feet and a head.
Melissa: It's funny, my kids [Tyler, 14, and Jacquelyn, 10] have grown up with Matt and Friends. Jacquelyn's always watched the show, knows the characters, but also knows everybody from visiting the set and would get so confused. I think it's only in the last year that she really knows that Courteney's name is Courteney, not Monica. Lisa would call and Jacquelyn would go, "Hi, Phoebe!" It was so cute.

LHJ: Matt, what would you tell your pre-Friends self, if you could?

Matt: When we get to the episode where Joey puts on all of Chandler's clothes, I'd say, Stop goofing around and do not do the stunt where you dive over the table. [He pulls down his shirt to reveal a long, nasty scar.] I ended up needing major surgery for popping out my shoulder.

LHJ: Melissa, did you watch the show before you knew Matt?

Melissa: Always! I'd give Jacquelyn her bedtime bottle at 8 every night so Tyler and I could sit and watch Friends while I fed her.

Matt: I didn't know that!

Melissa: Yeah...and this was way before we met.


[continues to next post because this post is too long....]

[jeanmachine]

One Big Family


LHJ: Matt, were you comfortable with Tyler and Jacquelyn when you were first dating Melissa?

Matt: Yeah, I had a stepdad and two different stepmoms [Matt's parents divorced when he was 7], so that may have made me a little more sensitive to what they were feeling. My big concern was, if I'm going to be with Melissa and in these kids' lives, I need to be serious about my commitment to her or walk away right now, because there are two innocent people involved. So, the woman I fell in love with happened to be a package deal. Whether it was two kids or 10 kids, it wouldn't have mattered. She's the one I want to be with. And Jacquelyn and Tyler are great.

Melissa: Matt was amazing with them from the very beginning. I could tell that Tyler loved him, and I knew that Jacquelyn dug him because she used to hide behind furniture so she could watch him.

Matt: She was so little, you could only see a foot! I'd say [in a goofy voice], "Wheeeeere's Jacquelyn?" But really, my wife and kids are what have kept me grounded. There's no bull with kids. As soon as you try and lay a little crap on them they say, "Hey, hey, what are you doing?"

LHJ: And Marina? You are so cute with her. What's it been like for you?

Matt: She's a constant surprise. I've never had something in my life that's so vulnerable, so dependent. It's a little hard for me right now because at this age, it's really all about the mother-child bond. But she's so cute and great. And Melissa is a fantastic mom and such a good friend to Tyler and Jacquelyn. I watch her with them. She speaks to them as equals and I think they respond to that with trust. When the kids first came into my life, I followed her lead, and by doing that, I never really made the wrong move.

LHJ: Which one of you is tougher with the kids?

Matt: She's a softie. I carry the big hammer. [Melissa laughs.]

Melissa: I think we play off each other. If I'm really intense and angry over something, he always gives me perspective. And vice versa. We can communicate best with the kids when we're not too angry.

Matt: When she's too soft with them, I come in and say, "I will cut your dirt bike in half with a chainsaw!"

Melissa: Really, Matt's a teddy bear.

LHJ: Matt, is Melissa your first serious romance?

Matt: No, when I was 19, I moved in with a girl, and we got engaged. After that broke up, and I had moved to California, I had a couple of other serious relationships.

LHJ: So, when you met Melissa, were you ready for the real thing?

Matt: I was definitely the one pursuing her. We were dating, and she was living in New York, and I kept flying out there to see her. Pretty soon, I asked her to move to California, she said okay, and here we are.

LHJ: You guys lived together for five years before you married. Melissa, were you nervous to commit again, after your divorce?

Melissa: I suppose I could have been, but I think when I met Matt, I finally felt like I had met the person I was supposed to spend the rest of my life with. I was not with the right person in my first marriage, so I could really feel the difference.

LHJ: Matt, how did you propose?

Matt: I said I was going to ask her to marry me 20 different times, 20 different ways, and the 20th would be the real one. Some of the proposals were romantic, some nonchalant, some were a joke. She was over the whole thing by about the third one.

Melissa: For the real one, I was doing the dishes, in sweats, and he came in with the ring. It was the most unromantic, but maybe, that I was home and had dishpan hands, also made it the most romantic.

LHJ: What do you guys all like to do together, as a family?

Matt: We have a house up north of Santa Barbara with cows and horses that's just a great place to decompress and spend time outdoors together. It's up in the rolling, green, cattle hills and it's so beautiful. Like God reached down and touched the ground with His hand and it just blossomed. Wildflowers, oak groves, tall wavy grass...it's just killer. My mom likes it there. She's really happy being a grandmother.

LHJ: Was wanting to make her proud a motivating force for you?

Matt: I think she's always been proud. I don't think I ever made her feel like she did a bad job. I treat people right, the way I would like to be treated. That's how I was raised. But, if you wrong me, watch out! [laughing] Melissa calls me Mr. Get Even.

Melissa: He's like a cat who waits and gets you in the middle of the night! If I play a joke on him, when I'm least expecting it he gets me. Throwing cold water on me! Running in when I'm showering and changing the temperature!

LHJ: What do you do that makes the other crazy?

Matt: She constantly shuts the lights off. I'll be like, "Ah, still here! Still in the room!"

[They both crack up.]

Lifelong Dreams


LHJ: Matt, did you always want to be an actor?

Matt: No, as a kid I wanted to be a carpenter. I studied it in high school, and I remember my deciding moment. I had dropped out of college and was framing a house in the snow in Newton, Massachusetts, where I grew up. It was winter, and I smashed my finger, and it was freezing. I remember thinking, Crap! I hate this! It was either find someplace warm to go and frame houses or go with acting. Then, if you have to lift something heavy, the stuntman does it.

Melissa: But he's so mechanical. He's always pulling apart motorcycles and rebuilding them.

Matt: My dad is a diesel mechanic, and I've always loved that stuff. I love that you can put together a group of inanimate objects and harness the power of an explosion and turn it into transportation.

LHJ: Do you still ride motorcycles?

Matt: I love it. The other day I took out this little scooter I have. It doesn't go very fast and makes so much noise, everybody was probably looking at me going, "What a geek!" But I had the full helmet on and had the best time. It's fun to be anonymous sometimes. I wish there was a switch I could just turn on and off.

LHJ: A long way from carpentry.

Matt: Yeah, now, instead of going to work on a construction site, I go to a soundstage. I relate to the crew . . . because they are all blue-collar guys. And I'll take ideas from anyone. Everyone knows, from the sound technician to the grip, if they have a funny joke for the show, they can come to me. I'm willing to try anything. It makes it more fun, because then when it comes time to perform an episode, it's been a real collaborative effort and everyone is pulling for you.

LHJ: You seem to still love acting.

Matt: It's so fun! It's like a license to play in the sandbox. [In a deep voice] This week I'm a fireman! This week I'm a spaceman! Lost in Space. I got to be a spaceman for four months. I had a ray gun and a special leather space suit! [Melissa laughs.]

LHJ: But most importantly, have you changed Marina's diapers?
Matt: I have. It's like a pit stop, NASCAR. Zoom, zoom! I should get a stopwatch.

Melissa: He always was my favorite Friend . . . [teasing].

Matt: But seriously, the thing is, right from the beginning I think Melissa and I knew that we were destined to be together. To be the two of us. She's my best friend, my lover, my confidante. It's the greatest thing that's ever happened to me. That, and I found 20 bucks in the street one time. That was great!

[And again, the two dissolve in laughter.]

[Jamie]

Thanx for posting that, it's kinda long but it doesn't take long to read lol. It's really cute.

[jenrulz]

yeah! really thanx for posting that! and its true,, liong but easy to read jaja.. matts a real cutie! and i find it so great that melissa used to wathc friends....if u really think about it, friends was just a part of SO many people's lifes!

[jensperfect]

woow lol im such a slow reader that took ages to read but its interesting. thanks for for posting that

[jenismyidol0808]

yup.. aww the cast always describes jen [in oprah, mags and here] with a big gigantic heart.. lol she must be so nice.. =)

[ANNAston19]

AAWWW thank you so much for posting that. It was so sweet! He is just too adorable. I think it is so cute how much in love he is with his daughter! I bet he is such a good dad! Man I just love him!!!! I also love the way he describes his FRIENDS!

~Anna

[**kay-kay**]

Awwwww thats sooo cute, I think it's so sweet how much he loves his daughter too!!!! Jen most be an absolute dream to work with, everyone says she's just one big heart! Aaawww she's so sweet and lovely!! You just have to love her!!!

k