Debra Messing’s role as Grace Adler on Will & Grace shot her to superstardom — but does she ever go back and watch the hit comedy?
“Never,” Messing, 56, exclusively told Us Weekly while attending the premiere of The Alto Knights at AMC Lincoln Square in New York City on March 15.
The actress noted that she doesn’t think her 20-year-old son, Roman, has “ever seen one episode.” (Messing shares her son with ex-husband Daniel Zelman.)
Messing confessed that the show “kind of freaks him out,” mainly because it’s not exactly normal watching your mom’s younger self on a TV screen.
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“He’s just like, ‘Well, it’s your mother.’ [He would be like], ‘My mother is sitting right next to me. Now we’re looking at my mother again. But she was 30,’” Messing mused. “And so it’s kind of weird.”
She added, “I think someday he’ll come to it.”
Messing portrayed straight interior designer Grace on the comedy for eight seasons from 1998 to 2006. During that time, Grace lived in New York City with her gay BFF lawyer, Will Truman (Eric McCormack), and they frequently got into wild situations with their other best friends, the over-the-top Jack McFarland (Sean Hayes) and the uber-wealthy Karen Walker (Megan Mullally).
All four main cast members returned for three more seasons of the show, which ran from 2017 to 2020.
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While Messing doesn’t enjoy rewatch parties, her longtime friend and former castmate McCormack, 61, is the exact opposite.
McCormack exclusively told Us in March that he thinks of Will & Grace reruns as looking at “family movies” or “home movies.” He noted that he usually watches the outtakes because “it’s a reminder of just the greatest job.”
Like Messing’s son, McCormack revealed that his own 22-year-old son, Finn, not only avoids watching the show’s reruns but trolls him for them.
McCormack recalled watching an old episode one Thanksgiving, and Finn “looked at us and he looked at the screen and he looked back and he said, ‘Are you just going to sit and watch yourself on television all day? This is appalling!’”
When Messing heard how Finn reacted to his dad’s choice of TV viewing, she told Us, “That’s hilarious,” admitting, “And it doesn’t surprise me.”
While the former costars differ on their opinions toward reruns, Messing said they are still close. She explained that she and McCormack don’t have another joint project on the books yet but said, “I think we both would be really excited about that.”
Messing, for her part, has been keeping busy, most recently starring in The Alto Knights, which hits theaters Friday, March 21.
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In the movie, Messing plays Bobbie Costello, the wife of one of two characters played by Robert De Niro. She teased that fans will be shocked by De Niro’s transformation on screen while playing two of New York City’s most notorious organized crime bosses vying for power.
“I just couldn’t believe it. The artistry of prosthetics. It’s something that I still can’t wrap my mind around,” Messing said of her costar. “He sat in that chair for three and a half hours every day, and he would come out as one of the two characters.”
She explained, “And it wasn’t until I saw the screening that I was able to actually see both characters together, and I was blown away.”
With reporting by Travis Cronin
