Jennifer Coolidge is praising Ariana Grande for saving her career.
Coolidge, 61, appeared in Grande’s "Thank U, Next" music video in 2018. Prior to her appearance, the "White Lotus" star shared that her career was "flatlining."
"I'm curious if you know that when people ask about how my life has changed," Coolidge said to Grande during Entertainment Weekly’s Entertainer of the Year issue.
"Yes, I got to do ‘White Lotus,’ but I think it really started with you asking me to be in the 'Thank U, Next' video."
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Coolidge continued: "I mean, from there I got ‘Promising Young Woman,’ and this whole thing. You were sort of the instigator. I really believe that. I think if you hadn't put me in 'Thank u, next,' and done that imitation, I don't think I would be here where I am."
Grande replied to Coolidge’s claims, saying that was "the most untrue thing I've ever heard in my life," but the actress insisted her role in the 2018 music video was very important for her career.
"No, I really think that! And I think it's pretty cool," Coolidge said. "I was kind of flatlining, and you got things going for me."
The "Legally Blonde" star added, "I just want to thank you. I know you're a very humble person, you wouldn't admit to it, but I'm just going to thank you."
Coolidge appeared on "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" in January where she detailed how she landed the role in Grande’s famous video, which has over 700 million views on YouTube.
"Not much was going on, and then Ariana did this imitation on your show, and you encouraged her, and then this ball got rolling," she said to Fallon.
In 2018, Grande appeared on Fallon’s show where she did an imitation of Coolidge’s character, Paulette Bonafonté, in "Legally Blonde."
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"My friend who is like her age, Theresa, she was like, 'You know, you should DM Ariana and just say I thought it was such a good imitation,' and I was like, 'No, she's got like 260 million followers, those are robots! The robots answer the DMs, and we will never ever get to her,’" Coolidge shared.
The actress decided to listen to her friend and message Grande anyway.
"I did it anyway, and this response came back, and the next thing you know, I was going to her house, getting fit for a wardrobe fitting for 'Thank U, Next.' That was all because of Jimmy Fallon!"
Over the past four years, Coolidge has appeared in two seasons of HBO’s "White Lotus" and Netflix’s "The Watcher."
