“Even though I play a complete weirdo in ‘White Lotus’, cute guys come up to me,” Coolidge admits
Jennifer Coolidge is reaping the benefits of her White Lotus success.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, the 63-year-old actress admitted that her dating life has changed since playing Tanya McQuoid on the hit HBO series.
“Even though I play a complete weirdo in ‘White Lotus’, cute guys come up to me,” she said before reflecting on fans’ reaction to her character’s death in season 2.
“And this is far better than American Pie because people were really sad about Tanya falling off a boat,” she added. “These men like you better because they feel that you went through something. That show really upped my game!”
Coolidge — who played Stifler’s mom Jeanine Stifler in 1999’s raunchy comedy American Pie — recalled being underwhelmed by the dating pool before landing her role on The White Lotus. The actress even shared an interaction that she had with a man in New Orleans in the past.
“He had a T-shirt on that his belly came out of, plus red cowboy boots. He was 4 feet 11 inches and he said, ‘Would you like to go out?’” she explained. “And, well, there was nothing wrong with him, but you have this idea that Brad Pitt or whoever will sweep you off your feet and then it was that little …”
However, her prospects have since improved, she shared, “White Lotus changed that for me. It’s not just that little guy anymore.”
In 2022, Coolidge reflected on how American Pie boosted her dating life during a conversation with Ariana Grande for Entertainment Weekly’s Entertainer of the Year issue.
“It helped my dating life in a way that I can’t ever explain,” Coolidge said of the movie after Grande asked about Coolidge’s personal favorite roles over her career. “If I hadn’t had that movie, I don’t think… Well, let’s just say it would’ve been a very dull decade.”
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Grande brought Coolidge’s past comments to Variety about receiving “a lot of sexual action” following her role in American Pie and asked the actress about “the best dick you got from playing Stifler’s mom.”
“Well, it was definitely the youngest fellow,” Coolidge recalled at the time, calling the unnamed man “very, very charming” before Grande reminded her she could keep details private if she wished.
“No, I’m glad you asked this because you see, I did say that jokingly [in August] and, God, you really can’t make jokes in our town, because I did make the terrible mistake of saying, “Thank God for that movie, I got to sleep with 200 men,” or whatever,” Coolidge said during the conversation.
“And look, I would love to say that was true, but I mean, that was sort of an exaggeration — so I’m glad you’re asking me,” she added.
Coolidge went on to admit that her American Pie role “did sort of open up the world to a much broader group of handsome men — and younger men.”
