Anna Faris says her divorce from Chris Pratt left her “feeling sad” and hit hard under public scrutiny, while revealing that her podcast—Anna Faris Is Unqualified—helped her find a calmer way to cope and connect.
Anna Faris didn’t dress her divorce story up in polished talking points. When she looked back at splitting from Chris Pratt, the feeling was plain: “I was feeling sad. Sad.”
Faris and Pratt tied the knot in 2009 and welcomed their son Jack three years later, but their marriage ended in 2018. Speaking in rare comments about the media scrutiny surrounding their divorce. Faris told Variety on Saturday that she tried to keep Hollywood at a distance—yet couldn’t escape what fame brings.
“I do feel like I had enough gumption, enough of a core, and I have tried to be careful about how much Hollywood infiltrates, but now I’ve been on a spectrum of fame for 26 years, so I would be naïve to think that it hasn’t shaped who I am at this point. But, f**k. The scrutiny.”
She didn’t share a blow-by-blow of what happened between her and Pratt. but she described the moment where the public spotlight made the private pain even harder to manage. And she explained how. in the middle of it. she leaned on something she’d built for herself long before the divorce talk consumed headlines.
At the time, Faris said her podcast, Anna Faris Is Unqualified, helped her get through it. “I’m lucky that at that time I had my podcast [‘Unqualified’]. That goes back to the talk radio. I wanted, like, four people to listen and to build my own secret community. I wanted an avenue outside of Hollywood as a way to connect with people.”.
Faris also pointed to a sense of control—knowing that if she wanted to open up. she had a way to do it on her own terms. “I used to do this thing on ski lifts where. if I was on a ski lift with a stranger. I’d say. ‘Do you want to have a really intense ten-minute conversation with me?. And you can answer any question you want to.’ And I’d ask them questions like. ‘When was the first time you fell in love?’ I’ve had a constant desire to connect with people. I didn’t disclose a lot on the podcast, but I always felt like I could if I needed to.”.
Working on the show, she added, didn’t just distract her—it helped reshape how she thought about her future. “The podcast helped me a lot during that time. and it made me think: I know I could be happy if I’m writing. because I’ve always loved that. and maybe that’s an avenue to make money. I was thinking of a version of retirement.”.
She’s clearly not stepping away from life or work anytime soon. “But now, I feel like the opportunities are more bountiful than they’ve ever been! I’m just overwhelmed with gratitude.”
Faris said the response she gets from people still carries a familiar warmth—smiles and reminders of why they connected to her work in the first place. “When people see me. they usually smile and say. ‘Oh. I love The House Bunny!’ or ‘Oh. I love Scary Movie!’ or ‘Mom helped me through that hard time.’”.
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