Lisa Kudrow Says She Realized the “Friends” Cast Was Providing a 'Mental Health Service' for Fans Post-9/11: 'It Hit Me'

The actress, 61, previously told PEOPLE she watched 'Will & Grace' as a means of escapism in the weeks after 9/11

There are a few particularly poignant moments that made Lisa Kudrow truly understand the gravity of Friends' success.

While reflecting on how she handled the level of fame she got from the sitcom on Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson's podcast, SiriusXM's Where Everybody Knows Your Name, Kudrow, 61, recalled the weeks after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as among the memories that stand out most to her from the show.

She said it was common when she was driving home from filming in L.A. that "someone in the car next to me might look over and go, 'Ah,' and wave or something," but after 9/11, those interactions held even more weight.

Related: Why Lisa Kudrow Was 'Irritated' by Laughter of Friends Studio Audience: 'They'd Been Laughing Too Long'

"It happened a few times driving home – someone's next to me and they looked over and they just looked exhausted and tired and just went, [ and mouthed 'Thank you']. And it almost made me cry, and that's where it hit me – 'Oh no, we are actually providing a service – like, a mental health service by entertaining people,'" Kudrow recalled. "And they definitely need to not look at the news for a minute and just laugh and be part of a world where all that didn't happen."

When it came to grappling with fame in general, Kudrow said she's "happy to say early on, I realized that it wasn't a real thing."

"It's not the kind of love that a lot of people think will cure whatever damage they have to their self-esteem, you know, from whenever before. That doesn't fix anything and it's not real and it's potentially fleeting," she said, before correcting herself. "Potentially? It's definitely fleeting, cause everything comes and goes. That's how the world is."

Related: Lisa Kudrow Says She Did a 'Double Take' the First Time She Heard Matthew Perry Read for Friends' Chandler

Though Kudrow's sitcom was what many people turned to in the aftermath of 9/11, the actress herself looked to another show for comfort amid the turbulent times.

"After 9/11, all I was doing was watching the news and every single thing I saw was someone who knew someone that was in one of the towers or something like that," she told PEOPLE last year. "I started watching Will & Grace and I said, 'Oh, okay. Oh, I wonder, they're in New York. Oh God, they're in New York. I wonder who they knew in the buildings, if they knew anyone.'"

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"Then I went, 'Oh, no, wait, no, because they would've shot this before 9/11. You work in that TV, you know. Don't be an idiot.' Then I went, 'No, no. This is fiction. In this world, it didn't even happen.'"

Kudrow continued, "I just needed that break, and I was so grateful that there was something to watch where 9/11 hadn't happened at all. It was a break that I really needed."

Friends is streaming in full on Max.

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