Anna Faris on Lorre’s initial hesitation to cast her in Mom: ‘Of course it hurts’
Anna Faris opens up about Chuck Lorre’s hesitation to cast her in Mom—and why, even as she’s grateful for the role, those comments still sting.
On Instagram on October 15, Anna Faris addressed the passage in Chuck Lorre’s new memoir that questions her casting on CBS’s Mom, saying the remarks blindsided her.
“Yikes. Yes, I read a few things. I really didn’t see that coming. Of course it hurts.”
Faris also kept the focus on what the show gave her, calling out the people she worked with and the years she spent there. “I’m proud of what we made together, and nothing changes how grateful I am for those people and those years,” she wrote, adding that she never took the seven seasons she played Christy Plunkett for granted.
The reaction follows Lorre’s account in his memoir Sitcom, where he writes that he initially questioned whether Faris was right for Christy — a single mom trying to get sober — and later suggested that her exit before the final season affirmed those early doubts. Faris left the show after Season 7; Lorre’s book revisits that decision and his thinking at the time.
Mom ran for eight seasons on CBS from 2013 to 2021, pairing Faris with Allison Janney as mother- daughter duo Christy and Bonnie Plunkett. After Faris departed ahead of Season 8, Janney continued as Bonnie for the final run.
Another casting fight
Lorre’s book also details a very different battle behind Mike & Molly. According to Sitcom, CBS initially pushed back on his choice of Melissa McCarthy as Molly Flynn, with one network executive reportedly suggesting a slimmer actress in a fat suit instead — an idea Lorre rejected as he pushed for McCarthy.
“Once again, my brilliant casting director, Nikki Valko, brought in a comic genius. Melissa McCarthy. And once again, CBS hated her,” Lorre writes.
The decision paid off: McCarthy won the Emmy in 2011 for Mike & Molly — the same year Bridesmaids vaulted her to big-screen fame and earned her an Oscar nomination.