Lisa Kudrow: I was 'hideous' before my nose job at 16

(UPI) -- Lisa Kudrow talks reality shows, her Web Therapy series, anti-Semitism and high school mean girls in a lengthy Q&A with The Saturday Evening Post's November/December issue.

Best known for her role as Friends space cadet Phoebe Buffay, Kudrow currently has a recurring role on Shona Rimes' soapy Scandal. But nose you might recognize isn't the one the 50-year-old actress was born with.

"That was life altering," Kudrow said of the nose job she got at age 16. "I went from, in my mind, hideous, to not hideous."

I did it the summer before going to a new high school. So there were plenty of people who wouldn’t know how hideous I looked before. That was a good, good, good change," she added.

Asked whether people still call her Phoebe, she said they do, but that she refuses to turn around in response.

"I never turn around. If someone’s in front of me, I’ll smile and try to be nice. But I don’t like taking pictures. Autographs are fine," she said.

Kudrow also described Phoebe as "a ditzy girl who lived in a happier reality than everybody else, because everything was so gloomy around her."

That’s what I decided. And she was fearless and unapologetic. Now on Twitter or Facebook I see young girls saying, “I identify with Phoebe because I’m different too.” That’s nice, to think that people who don’t feel they fit in perfectly well can relate to that character.