Chuck Lorre suggested his reservations about Anna Faris on “Mom” were “correct” when she left the show for “mysterious reasons.”
The co-creator of the hit CBS comedy reveals in his new memoir, “Sitcom,” that he was initially hesitant to cast Faris, 49, in the lead role, even though she was the network’s first choice to play Christy Plunkett.
“I wasn’t sure Anna would be appropriate for this kind of material,” Lorre, 73, writes in his book. “Then I thought about how badly I had ruined my working relationship with Charlie Sheen.”
In her memoir, Lorre claims Melanie Lynskey was “terrified” of Sheen while filming the final episode of “Two and a Half Men” before the actor’s exit from the series in 2011.
He also writes that the cast and crew were in a “constant state of anxiety” around Sheen.
Sheen, 61, would later tell Lorre to “suck his ass” during a tirade on a radio show about being “fired,” but the couple eventually repaired their relationship when Lorre realized Sheen would be perfect for a role in his HBO comedy series “Bookie.”
Reflecting on his experience with Sheen, Lorre says he reconsidered his reservations about Faris, writing, “Anyone’s personal life is none of my business. The mom in ‘Mom’ would be, and should be, Anna Faris.”
The “Scary Movie” actress then starred opposite Allison Janney, who played Bonnie Plunkett, from 2013 to 2020, before leaving the series before its eighth season.
“As the years passed, it became clear that my initial reluctance to hire Anna was in fact correct,” Lorre writes in his memoir. “After six years, she left the show for mysterious reasons that weren’t mysterious to anyone on the show.”
Lorre praised the show’s later seasons, writing that “Mom found her true voice” by showing that “there is hope and there is laughter in overcoming the seemingly fatal disease of alcoholism.”
He also criticizes CBS for canceling the series after eight seasons in 2021, writing: “CBS decided they could live without a perfect cast led by a national treasure. They canceled a show starring Allison Janney.”
Faris would later speak about her decision to leave “Mom” during a June appearance on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast.
“I think the intensity, towards the end, I think I started to lose focus,” Faris said.
“I had never had a job, apart from that of a waitress, for more than three and a half months before,” she added, stressing that her decision to leave came during a “complicated period”.
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