Anna Faris says giving up alcohol has affected more than her drinking habits. The actress believes sobriety also helped her recognize a pattern of self-sabotage and reconsider a comedy career she once had complicated feelings about.
During the Aug. 20 Dear Chelsea episode, host Chelsea Handler asked whether Faris’ changing attitude toward her career might be connected to the fact that she had stopped drinking. Faris agreed and called the shift one of the “many gifts” she had experienced.
The 49-year-old actress then described a personal connection she had noticed between alcohol and her mental health. “It turns out there’s a correlation between drinking and depression for me, for sure,” she said. “I had to take a step back and not self-sabotage.”
Her comments came during a much broader conversation about getting older, depression, career uncertainty and the unexpected way returning to Scary Movie changed how she viewed the work that made her famous.
Faris Says Drinking and Depression Were Connected for Her
Handler raised sobriety after Faris explained that her attitude toward being recognized in public had changed over roughly the past year. For years, Faris said she had felt pressure to be grateful for a career that many actors would want while privately struggling with the kind of career she actually had. Comedy, despite bringing her enormous success, had sometimes felt like an “ill-fitting shoe.”
More recently, she began noticing something different when strangers recognized her. “It was only in the last, like, year, I think, that I really started to notice and appreciate if and when people recognize me, they would usually smile,” Faris said. She started absorbing the fact that audiences were remembering something funny she had done onscreen.
Handler wondered whether stopping drinking had helped produce that shift. “Yeah, I do. One of the many gifts!” Faris replied, according to PEOPLE. Faris also credited a hormone patch with helping her personally, saying it had made “a huge difference” for her.
Sobriety Changed How She Saw Her Comedy Career
Faris’ new outlook forced her to reconsider feelings she had carried since becoming famous as Cindy Campbell in the original Scary Movie in 2000.
The breakout role established her almost immediately as a comedy actress. That brought leading parts in movies including The House Bunny, What’s Your Number? and My Super Ex-Girlfriend, but it also made moving into dramatic work more difficult.
“I couldn’t really get auditions for dramatic work,” Faris said. She admitted that in her 20s she sometimes envied performers whose big breaks gave them different kinds of careers.
“Along the way, in the arrogance of my 20s, I did feel envious of people who got their big break in a different way,” Faris said, according to Entertainment Weekly. “And I think that is a really ungracious idea.”
Her ‘Scary Movie’ Return Arrived After She Considered a Slow Retirement
That reassessment came during a period when Faris had seriously questioned what remained of her acting career. She told Handler that by her late 40s she had developed what she called a “distant relationship” with Hollywood and found herself wondering whether she had enough money to retire.
“I was, in hindsight, I think pretty depressed,” Faris said, describing what she believed was premenopausal depression that she had not recognized at the time. She had already landed Spa Weekend, but even that job did not initially convince her that she was beginning another major professional chapter. Faris described it instead as part of a possible “slow retirement.”
Then Marlon Wayans called. Faris recalled him telling her that the Wayans family had regained control of Scary Movie. The new installment ultimately reunited Faris as Cindy with Regina Hall’s Brenda, Marlon Wayans’ Shorty and Shawn Wayans’ Ray for the first time in decades.
“Suddenly I had this rush of like, what if my destiny hasn’t quite forged itself in slow aging actress retirement?” Faris recalled. The 2026 Scary Movie opened in June, 26 years after the original film launched her career.
Returning to ‘Scary Movie’ Let Her Reconsider What Comedy Gave Her
Coming back to the franchise also allowed Faris to confront something she felt she had failed to appreciate when she was younger. She said she had never properly thanked Keenen Ivory Wayans, who directed the original Scary Movie, for the opportunity that launched her career.
When she encountered Marlon on the new movie’s set, the emotion surfaced immediately. Faris recalled jumping out of her hair-and-makeup chair, grabbing him by the forearms and telling him how grateful she was to be there. “I can’t believe I get to thank you in person,” she remembered saying. The experience helped her recognize how much the comedy world had actually given her.
“Getting to recognize and take in the gift that Keenen gave me, and that opportunity to thank him for my comedic journey, the comedy world has given me so much that I did not realize,” Faris said. “That’s been such a defining part of my life.” Faris said the past year left her feeling more confident in what she can offer as a performer and wishing she had reached that confidence earlier.
‘Spa Weekend’ Gives Faris Another Comedy Role Immediately After ‘Scary Movie’
Spa Weekend opens in U.S. theaters Aug. 21, with Faris starring alongside Leslie Mann, Isla Fisher and Michelle Buteau. The comedy, written and directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, follows longtime friends whose attempt at a restorative luxury-spa getaway descends into chaos.