Bill Lawrence and Christa Miller.
Emma McIntyre/Getty ImagesStarting work with the wife Christa Miller there are some advantages to Bill Lawrence but there are certain downsides – like watching her kiss other men.
“I don’t like that at all,” Lawrence, 55, exclusively said Us Weekly on Thursday, December 12, at PaleyLive’s An Evening of Shrinking program at the WGA Theater.
Although it’s sometimes “upsetting” for Lawrence, the pair feel that joking about the situation off-screen helps ease the awkwardness. This approach recently came into play for Lawrence’s current show Shrinkagewhere Miller is married to her on-screen husband Ted McGinley.
“We do (joke) because I felt personally betrayed,” Lawrence quipped. “Because we joke in the writers’ room that Ted McGinley plays me, and then when bad things happen and she disrespects her husband — I take it personally. Even writing.”
Creating boundaries. Penn Badgley, Neal McDonough and other stars have candidly discussed their decisions not to shoot sex scenes in future projects. When Season 4 of You premiered in February 2023, the Gossip Girl alum opened up about how his marriage to Domino Kirke has pushed his time filming the Netflix series. “I asked (the creator of (…)
Lawrence and Miller, 60, have collaborated many times since they married in 1999. Miller, who shares children Charlotte, 24, William, 21, and Henry, 18, with her husband, appeared by Lawrence projects Exfoliants, Clone High, Cougar Town and Shrinkage.
“Bill definitely sets the tone (on set). Every show I’ve worked on with Bill – down to the cast and crew – Bill has a no-holds-barred policy. I know other people like to go along with it and say it, but Bill really has it,” Miller said The Hollywood Reporter in 2023 “And a lot of the team that I’ve worked with for many, many years. Bill has people on the team that he works with all the time. I feel very safe on his set.”
Miller gushed Lawrence’s dedication to making every set a fun work environment.
“Bill creates a situation – and (Shrinkage co-creator and star) Jason (Segel) does that too — where they try to say things that will embarrass you, and we shouldn’t use it,” she recalls. “Once you’ve done this a few times and know that nothing bad will happen if you try something and it doesn’t work, you can put your heart out there.”
Shrinkagewhich premiered in 2023, stars Segel as a grieving therapist named Jimmy, who decides to become dramatically more involved in the lives of his patients while grieving the death of his wife and learning to parent as a single father. Miller’s character, meanwhile, is Jimmy’s neighbor, who often interferes in his life.
“My wife in real life is a little bit meaner than her character, so it was fun,” Lawrence joked us on Thursday before clarifying: “No. She is so respectful and she is so cool. Not many guys can tell their partners what to wear and what to say. So the fact that I do makes it more bearable and I don’t wear any clothes I’ve chosen for myself and I’m not allowed to make any decisions in my real life.
As we discuss Shrinkagethe success of, Lawrence explained how the hit series on Apple TV+ manages to balance light storylines with more serious topics such as mental health.
It’s not every day you get to work alongside your significant other, but a few celebrity couples have been lucky enough to do just that over the years — even after they’re married! John Krasinski and Emily Blunt, for example, have appeared in several of the same projects. The first time they worked (…)
“The cool thing is that we have a lot of great writers and performers. We try very hard to make calls from real life stories,” he shared with us. “(Creator) Brett (Goldstein) will also tell you – and Jason – how the show’s central premise is lifted from a true story.”
Lawrence continued, “So I think when you’re talking, whether Brett and I are dealing with family members who have Parkinson’s or people who have dealt with the grief of losing someone in their family, when you start with that authenticity, than you I’m allowed to do stupid things and get broad. See, all I do is steal the lives of the people around me.
New episodes of Shrinkage premieres on Apple TV+ every Wednesday.
With reporting by Lanae Brody
