'Will & Grace': Debra Messing, Megan Mullally had fight so bad that latter missed two episodes, reveal creators
Creators of popular NBC sitcom 'Will & Grace,' Max Mutchnick and David Kohan, have confirmed that lead stars Debra Messing and Megan Mullally did have "squabbles" on the set but nothing that would have derailed the final season of the show.
Rumors about a rift between the pair have been brewing ever since they unfollowed each other on Instagram last year. The pair were also rarely seen together in 'Will & Grace' social media posts, further cementing the notion that all was not well between the leading ladies.
However, in a conversation with Entertainment Weekly following the airing of the second series finale last week, 14 years after the original, Mutchnick and Kohan said they had always tried their best to keep all the focus on the series and nothing else.
"We always work under this kind of motto that everything's about the work. It's just about the work. And so if we stay true to that, then we just keep you guys out of whatever happened on the set this year because it would have done nothing but get in the way of the stories that we wanted to tell," Mutchnick shared.
"It was not an easy year, but the permanent legacy of the show is much more important to us than any temporary squabble that would take place on the stage," he added.
That "temporary squabble" had seemingly resulted in Mullally missing two episodes of the final season because of tensions with Messing. She had taken two weeks off the show, though she did return afterward to continue filming.
"Tensions were building for a while," a source said at the time.
Mullaly had opened up about the situation in a podcast with fellow actor and husband Nick Offerman, of 'Parks & Recreation' fame, but did not go so far as to mention any names.
"I've been bullied — I'm 60 and I'm being bullied right now, so you know it's a very insidious and dangerous thing and I never want to lose that happy and innocent part of myself but it's almost like you have to kill that," she said. "But I never will, it's part of who I am, it's intrinsic to my nature."
The 61-year-old actress also talked about the impact bullies can have on one's life and how they made you feel a certain way, before going on to refer to her current problem.
"The thing that I've had happen — this is tough — because I'm not good at standing up to people and having boundaries. So as I've gotten older, I've thought that if anyone tried to do that now, I would try to defend myself," she said.
"But the thing is that I've had a recent situation and I can't be specific about but I had it happen and I did try to stand up for myself in certain ways and that made it a thousand times. Because the person, the bully, it just lit a fire under that person where they just tripled their efforts and it can get very dangerous."
"I'm pretty much on my own in this situation because the bully has recruited many of my allies to their side and now they're not my allies anymore."