Turner said that it never crossed his mind to take a role from anyone. Turner played Helena Handbasket, Chandler Bing’s mother, on "Friends" in 2001.

Kathleen Turner takes a look back on her controversial role in "Friends."

The actress spoke out about her role as Helena Handbasket on the sitcom in a recent interview with The Guardian. According to Matthew Perry, the character was "father" of Chandler Bing (who performed as a drag queen). It was discovered that Helena was actually transgender.

Turner, now 68, said that he had never considered hiring a transgender actor to play the role.

She explained that casting transgender people or drag queens was not an option. "It was never in my thoughts to cast them."

What if she would accept the role? Turner said to The Guardian that she doubted it. Turner said that he didn't regret taking the challenge. It was quite a challenge!

The Oscar-nominated actress spoke about her role in the past.

Turner stated that he would not portray the character now if there were real people who could do it.

In an interview with Gay Times, she said that "Friends" is not "aged well," and also revealed how Helena was presented to him.

"How they approached me with it was, 'would you prefer to be the first woman to play a man playing a girl?'" She recalled. "I said yes because there weren’t many drag/trans people in television at that time."

According to IMDb, Turner was the star of three episodes of "Friends." The character was called Chandler's "father", Charles Bing. Her drag name was Helena Handbasket. Helena was a gay woman and a drag queen rather than transgender.

Marta Kauffman (Friends) said Helena was trans last year and that it was a "mistake” that she wasn’t called that way.

Kauffman stated that "we kept referring to her als Chandler's dad, even though Chandler was trans", while appearing on BBC World Service's"The Conversation" in July. Per The Guardian

She added, "Pronouns weren't yet something I understood." "So, we didn't refer as she to that character. This was a mistake.

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Title: Kathleen Turner Says Trans Person Was 'Never Considered' for Controversial Friends Role
Sourced From: toofab.com/2023/01/12/kathleen-turner-controversial-friends-trans-role/
Published Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2023 15:07:18 +0000

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