Jenna Fischer on Angela Kinsey ‘You don’t expect a friendship like this when you’re older’

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The Office fans are honed in on Steve Carrell and John Krasinski. Any time an Office alum is spotted with either of them, it sends ripples throughout the Office fandom. Especially when it was Jenna Fischer and John together, because of the Jim and Pam shippers out there. But the real love story that came from The Office is Jenna and Angela Kinsey, who played Angela Martin. Jenna and Angela met on the set and became best friends during the first season. The friendship has only grown stronger since. So strong the two produce their Office Ladies podcast together, using what Jenna calls their BBF shorthand when they communicate. Now they’ve written a memoir of their time on the show Office BFFs: Tales of The Office from Two Best Friends Who Were There. The pair are especially grateful for finding each other because they didn’t expect to find such a close friendship later in life.

Former costars Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey have been fulfilling this need, first with their award-winning podcast Office Ladies and now with their upcoming book, Office BFFs: Tales of The Office from Two Best Friends Who Were There — which includes their most “personal” and hilarious anecdotes yet.

The two women tell PEOPLE how they first became friends (it involves sitting on a bench for hours onset) and reflect on some of their favorite memories, if Jim and Pam would still be together today and more.

Fischer says that she and Kinsey had been friendly during season 1 of The Office, but it wasn’t until they sat on a bench “for two full shoot days, which is about 12 hours each day” during the filming of the “Basketball” episode that they really bonded. By the end of the shoot, they had told each other their “life story,” says Fischer, 46.

“We were leaving the warehouse and we were so giddy,” she says. “We had this really fun friendship. You don’t expect to make a friendship like this when you’re older.”

The day became even more epic when they encountered Carell.

“We had to walk through this big parking lot, and it was at night. Like school girls, we linked arms and started doing Schlemiel and Schlimazel from Laverne & Shirley and Steve was walking up behind us,” Kinsey remembers. “We were so embarrassed and we were laughing. Steve was like, ‘No matter what happens, this is what you’ll take with you. This.’ And he pointed at the two of us. He was so right.”

“Jenna is my life anchor because it’s like, the world doesn’t make sense until I can bounce it off her, whatever happens,” says Kinsey. “The big things, the small things. Once I tell it to her, I’m at peace with it, or I can navigate it.”

Fischer explains that the key to their longstanding friendship is “listening.”

“You just need that person who makes you feel seen and heard. That person who helps you process even little decisions when you’re standing in Target. Who do you call to tell you if you need another throw pillow or not, you know?” she jokes.

[From People]

This is one of those things that I never thought about, but Jenna is exactly right. I wouldn’t have guessed that my closest friendships would all be formed in my late 30s early 40 and yet, they were. Even my husband was 30 when we met and I was about to be the same. Jenna and Angela were in their early 30s when The Office premiered. It sounds like they were obviously well paired as BFFs in general. But I imagine the shared experience of having their lives blow up with the popularity of the show helped solidify their bond. Not to mention they had other life experiences during the show, like babies, divorces (remember Jenna’s first husband was James Gunn?!), etc. I think forming friendships as adults has a lot to do with how we change as people. I’m definitely not the same person I was in my early 20s. I don’t even think 33-year-old me would be friends with 22-year-old me. I love that Jenna and Angela found each other and they’ve only gotten closer. A truly good friend is such a treasure.

As the article mentioned, Jenna and Angela’s Office Ladies podcast just won the iHeartRadio Podcast of the Year award. This was some much need good news, especially for Angela, whose entire family – herself, her husband, daughter and stepsons all got COVID over the holidays. After she’d been diagnosed, she got the call from Texas that her 82-year-old mother was in the hospital with the virus and Angela couldn’t fly to her due to her own condition. Fortunately everyone recovered, although it was a hard recovery, she said. But Angela said it made her “prioritize her own value.” I’ll bet Jenna was at the top of Angela’s priority list too. I know my closest friends have moved so far up my list now.

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Photo credit: Instagram

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14 Responses to “Jenna Fischer on Angela Kinsey ‘You don’t expect a friendship like this when you’re older’”

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  1. Harla says:

    I too met my soul sister later in life and am so grateful everyday for this friendship!! I love my husband with all my heart but there are things that he just doesn’t understand, things that I don’t have to explain to my soul sister, she just gets it.

  2. Julie says:

    Someone please send them the Doja Cat/Sweetie ode to best friends. I’d love to see these two re-enact that video

  3. Mel says:

    It’s nice to read positive stories about female friendships which are so important at all ages but particularly as we get older and have to navigate some of the tougher issues in life – aging, death of family and friends, relationship status changes et al.

  4. Lucy2 says:

    I it’s really wonderful that they found this friendship and it has lasted so long. I enjoy their podcast.
    Glad to hear Angela and her family are all doing better.

  5. Common sense says:

    I need to re-watch the office. I discovered it during the first lock down here in South Africa and I enjoyed it tremendously, it kept me sane. I loved every character.

  6. Tiffany says:

    Angela and Jenna both seem like good eggs and when you think about the cast, it is not surprising that those two became fast friends. Angela and Jenna are also tight with Oscar, Kevin, Rainn and Creed.

  7. SarahCS says:

    This is a wonderful story and raises some very good points. I met my BFF when I was just shy of 30 and she’s a bit younger (but I’m not bitter, honest) and I don’t know what I’d do without her in my life. We’ve both had stuff to deal with over the years, sometimes simultaneously, but it’s always better knowing the other one is out there. I’d be a lot happier if she could get out of her current toxic and co-dependent relationship with a narcissistic addict but it’s been going on for years now so I’m not holding my breath.

  8. Susan says:

    I love these two. I follow them both on IG and they are funny and smart and real and just a joy. Their cats, their lives, their attempts (ands fails) at baking, it is all real world charming. I absolutely feel like they’d be my friend if we lived in the same town. There are some really cool things on IG and they are one of them. If you are a cat person, you def need to follow Angela!

  9. Renee says:

    I love reading about female friendships. It is so nice that these two ladies found each other. There are so many stories about women tearing each other down that I love seeing a story of women supporting one another.

  10. Eenie Googles says:

    I tried listening to this podcast but these two are SHOCKINGLY BORING

    Like, I’d recommend listening to a couple of episodes just to marvel at how throughly dull they are.

  11. Esmom says:

    The Office fell off my radar awhile ago so I had no idea that their friendship was so deep or that their podcast existed. Very sweet.

    I am lucky to have met a really tight group of friends in my mid 30s, which is very different from my relationship with my BFFs from college and earlier. I don’t think anyone is ever too old to make new friends, and it’s always so exciting to find out that you click with someone. So I understand their little Laverne & Shirley dance, lol.

  12. ncboudicca says:

    Love reading about women supporting each other – not just standing up for another woman in a time of crisis that makes news, but these everyday friendships are nice to ready about, too. The older I get, the more happiness I find in what some people might call mundane – but that’s where the bedrock is; what you rely on to gather strength for the hard times and crises.

    Thanks for writing/sharing this with us.

  13. Jill says:

    I have made close friends in each decade of my life. I’m in my 50s and made a really close group of friends from a trip we all took together just a few years ago. I knew 2 of them from Facebook ahead of time. These ladies are my lifeline. This is the group chat that saves my sanity. And I’m going to qualify all this by saying I am an extremely introverted person. We should normalize finding and making friends throughout our lives. (I’m watching Firefly Lane right now and the thought of being lifelong friends with my bestie from 8th grade makes me laugh. I’m pretty sure she’s a rock solid Trumper and I am so NOT.)

    • Nina says:

      I personally do know a handful of people that have besties from a very young age. But they usually live in the same place and/or have followed very similar paths in their lives. These days that’s an exception and it certainly is for me. I love how you found friendship in ususpecting places (I’m a bit younger than you and am very vary of social media being a good place to fiend friends – maybe I’m wrong?) . All of this makes me hopeful to find friends in the future. During this pandemic I felt a shift in my current friendships that made me question how tight they really are and for a brief second, I feared I’d be alone as I grow older. Maybe not!