Anna Faris said producing her podcast Unqualified gave her purpose during the turmoil of her divorce from Chris Pratt.
Speaking to Variety, the 49-year-old actress said she was lucky to have the podcast at that time, noting that it grew out of her love of talk radio and also hoped to find support. “I wanted, like, four people to listen and to build my own secret community,” she said, adding that she wanted a space outside Hollywood to connect with people.
Faris and Pratt, 46, married in 2009 in Bali and separated in 2017 after eight years together. Their divorce was finalized the following year. The two share a 13-year-old son, Jack.
She further noted on dealing with the divorce, “I was feeling sad. 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***. The scrutiny.”
Faris launched “Anna Faris Is Unqualified” in 2015, two years before she and Pratt announced their separation.
The two met while filming Take Me Home Tonight in 2007, where they played love interests. Faris later revealed that they “fell in love during that time,” and their relationship soon moved from co-stars to a real-life romance.
“I didn’t disclose a lot on the podcast, but I always felt like I could if I needed to,” she said. “The podcast helped me a lot during that time.”
Faris also connected the experience to a broader realization about her career. She told the outlet that producing the show clarified an interest in writing as something she could pursue alongside acting.
“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,” she said.
Despite the split, Faris told People in October 2017 that she and Pratt remained close. “We’ll always have each other and be incredible friends,” she said at the time. “There is still so much laughter in our lives together, and he is so proud of me, still. We watched each other grow, and he still cracks me up all the time.”
Faris is now married to cinematographer Michael Barrett, while Pratt married Katherine Schwarzenegger in 2019, with whom he has three kids.