Latest news with #JaneSibbett
News.com.au
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Friends star's unexpected new career after quitting Hollywood
She may not have been one of the core six – but Jane Sibbett will forever be a very familiar face to Friends fans. The actor played Carol Willick, Ross' first wife and the mother of his son, Ben, throughout the series, and her on-screen same-sex wedding to Susan Bunch (Jessica Hecht) made history as the first of its kind on network television. Three decades later, Sibbett's life is dramatically different from her Hollywood days. The former actor, now 62, has largely stepped away from acting and now works as an energy healer, as she explained recently to People magazine. 'It's fascinating because I'm working on the memoir of this whole situation, and one of my mentors had said, 'Go back before the gift.' The gift has been here 10 years now,' Sibbett said about her transition from acting to spirituality. 'When I work with the dancing hands, it's not me. It's source energy coming through me, and so I just feel nothing but bliss and joy and love when I am in this state.' The It Takes Two star described how she had been living with her then-husband, Karl Fink, in Topanga, California, and hosting 'goddess circles' for women when they had a calling to move to Hawaii in 2015. There, they launched a production company together but the relationship ultimately broke down, leaving Sibbett 'broken-hearted', and seeking out a new path. 'He and I had been producing documentaries for healers who don't call themselves healers, and one in particular, [Abdy Electriciteh]. My work with him suddenly became a part of this organisation, because I'm really collaborative, so I wanted everyone to be in on this,' she said. '[This healer] asked me to go from [working on] the documentaries to producing these live events, so it was a perfect synthesis of my belief in the gift of him [and] what he was doing and me coming off of Friends. 'I'm really a shy person, and so for me to step up into a crowd and introduce him all day long to all these people and have a different story, each and every time, I started to feel the way that source energy or God energy was moving through me. 'Then somebody said, 'Hey, you were so good at that. I know somebody else who needs your help,' and so I went to one person, and then I did the next person, and I did the next.' Before long, the former actor found herself embracing her new chapter as an energy healer.
New York Post
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
'Friends' star Jane Sibbett reveals why she quit Hollywood for new career
The one where Carol becomes an energy healer. 'Friends' actress Jane Sibbett, who played Ross' lesbian ex-wife on the sitcom, opened up about her decision to leave Hollywood for a different career in a new interview with People. Sibbett, 62, told the outlet that she became passionate about energy and spirituality after moving to Hawaii with her then-husband Karl Fink around ten years ago. Advertisement 8 Jessica Hecht, David Schwimmer and Jane Sibbett in 'Friends' in 1995. Getty Images 8 Jane Sibbett in an Instagram photo from March 2025. janesibbett/Instagram 'My husband and I split [when] we were in Hawaii, and I was on my knees because I was really brokenhearted by everything, and part of that was my stuff that I had to deal with,' Sibbett shared. Advertisement The 'It Takes Two' actress recalled that after the split, energy healer Abdy Electriciteh, with whom she was producing a documentary, asked her to help him produce a live energy healing event. 8 Jane Sibbett attends the 'Wedding Wonderland' premiere in Los Angeles in 2017. Tommaso Boddi 'It was a perfect synthesis of my belief in the gift of him [and] what he was doing and me coming off of 'Friends,'' she explained, adding, 'I'm really a shy person, and so for me to step up into a crowd and introduce him all day long to all these people and have a different story, each and every time, I started to feel the way that source energy or God energy was moving through me.' 'Then somebody said, 'Hey, you were so good at that. I know somebody else who needs your help,'' Sibbett continued, 'and so I went to one person, and then I did the next person, and I did the next.' Advertisement 8 Jane Sibbett as Carol Willick-Bunch, David Schwimmer as Ross Geller in 'Friends.' NBCUniversal via Getty Images Sibbett noted that she didn't have any formal training in her 'dancing hands' technique that was inspired by Electriciteh. 8 Jane Sibbett at The Hollywood Show in Los Angeles in 2015. Getty Images 'I wouldn't call it Reiki,' she told the outlet. '[My hands] just started dancing because I was never trained in Reiki, so I wouldn't even know what that is. I believe in it, I trust it [but] it's just not what I do. This wasn't trained. This just came in fully fleshed, immediately.' Advertisement Despite leaving Hollywood, Sibbett — who is working on a memoir about her career change — believes her acting experience actually helped her become an energy healer. 8 Jane Sibbett in 'Herman's Head' in the 1990s. ©Touchstone Television/Courtesy Everett Collection 8 Jane Sibbett attends the 1736 Family Crisis Center's 40th Anniversary Gala in Pacific Palisades, Calif. in 2013. WireImage 'I think every actor worth their salt knows that they are embodied by the character. At some point, you give yourself over, [so] I understand why my body is trained to let itself go,' she shared. 'That's part of the actor crisscross there.' Sibbett appeared in 15 episodes of 'Friends.' Her character Carol was involved in the first lesbian wedding on television. 8 Jessica Hecht as Susan Bunch-Willick, Jane Sibbett as Carol Willick-Bunch in 'Friends.' NBCUniversal via Getty Images Last year, Sibbett told The Post that she's never watched the beloved sitcom in its entirety. 'I'm that girl who just doesn't watch what she's already done,' she said. 'It's really terrible.'
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Ross' wife from Friends reveals her surprising career change
Friends alum Jane Sibbett is best known for portraying David Schwimmer 's onscreen ex-wife Carol Willick in 15 episodes of the NBC sitcom spanning 1994-2001. But the 62-year-old grandmother-of-two left her native California for Hawaii a decade ago in favor of a surprising new career as an energy healer. Jane received no formal training as her 'dancing hands' technique was inspired by healer Abdy Electriciteh after she hosted informal 'goddess circles' for women back in Topanga. 'I wouldn't call it Reiki,' Sibbett explained to People on Wednesday. '[My hands] just started dancing because I was never trained in Reiki, so I wouldn't even know what that is. I believe in it, I trust it [but] it's just not what I do. This wasn't trained. This just came in fully fleshed, immediately.' The Jane's Dancing Hands founder continued: 'I started to feel the way that source energy or God energy was moving through me. Then somebody said, "Hey, you were so good at that. I know somebody else who needs your help," and so I went to one person, and then I did the next person, and I did the next.' Back in 1994, Jane was nearly cast as Rachel Green in Friends but she got pregnant with her second child, so she eventually replaced Anita Barone as the sixth grade teacher who divorces Ross Geller before the birth of their son Ben. 'I have not [watched the entire series]. I confess,' Sibbett told the New York Post last September. 'Obviously, when I was shooting the show, I watched what we were doing, but generally I didn't watch because I was so busy raising my children...I'm that girl who just doesn't watch what she's already done. It's really terrible.' The former Wild Aloha Studios co-founder received equal parts praise and hate for portraying a woman who comes out as a lesbian and weds her mistress Susan Bunch (Jessica Hecht). The faux nuptials made history as the first lesbian wedding on network television, which deeply upset Jane's conservative Christian father. 'Given the fact that people have been watching Friends now for 30 years — isn't that incredible — I think [the lesbian storyline] would be wholly embraced,' Jane told the Post. 'Obviously, we know that the diversity wasn't existent and it should have been and there would be definitely some expansion. But we are clearly hungry for a show that is uplifting and funny and reflects our friend groups, how they become our family.' Sibbett memorably portrayed gold digger Clarice Kensington in Andy Tennant's 1995 rom-com It Takes Two alongside the Olsen Twins, Kirstie Alley, and Steve Guttenberg. The UCLA grad is also remembered for her roles in The WB sitcom Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher, Fox sitcom Herman's Head, CBS sitcom The Famous Teddy Z, and NBC soap opera Santa Barbara. Jane's last acting gig was portraying Dr. Elisabeth Boyer in Roxy Shih's 2021 breast cancer drama List of a Lifetime alongside the late Shannen Doherty. Sibbett has three children - daughter Ruby, nearly 33; son Kai, 30; and daughter Violet, 24 - from her 24-year marriage to Karl Fink, which ended in 2016. The avid equestrian - who's currently penning a memoir - is next scheduled to host a $160 virtual Expanded Quanta Circle session between July 1-3.
