Lisa Kudrow Shares Adorable Video In Honor Of Her Rarely-Seen ‘Lovely’ Son Julian

May 16, 2023

"Friends" star Lisa Kudrow's 25-year-old son, Julian Murray Stern, has accomplished quite a bit in his life already, and Kudrow is one proud mama! She has congratulated her son on his accomplishments in the past and has also posted sweet birthday messages for her boy over the years as he has continued to grow up.

Fans have loved seeing the star's son make an appearance on Kudrow's Instagram profile. Many of Kudrow's friends took the opportunity to congratulate the young man, chiming in to also congratulate Kudrow on the milestone. 

Kudrow is one of the most well-known actors in the world thanks to her role as Phoebe Buffay on the iconic television series "Friends." Kudrow was pregnant with Julian while she was still filming for the series, and she opened up about how Julian was impacted by her filming schedule while he was still young. Fans remember Kudrow's pregnancy being written into the story, becoming one of the more exciting parts of the series.

May 2021 marked an exciting month for the cast of "Friends" as well as fans of the show around the world when HBO announced a reunion show, which debuted that month. Kudrow, along with the other five main members of the case, shared a post on their Instagram handles to announce the reunion, which had fans eagerly waiting to see what the reunion had to offer. 

Kudrow has been married to businessman Michael Stern since 1995, and the couple shares Julian. In May 2023, Kudrow uploaded a heartfelt post for Julian’s birthday, and the mom made it clear that she has immense love for her son. 

In May 2021, Kudrow uploaded a photo onto her Instagram profile of her holding her son, Julian, who was wearing graduation robes from the University of Southern California. She captioned the photo:

"Happy proud HAPPY. And a little crying. By me not him.." She also tagged her son's Instagram profile in her caption. On May 7, 2021, Kudrow also uploaded a series of photos of her son for his birthday and captioned the post, "FaceTime with my boy to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!🎁🎉" 

Kudrow rarely uploads photos of her son, so fans were excited to see Julian make an appearance on the star's Instagram profile. Julian, too, has his own Instagram profile, which currently has over 41,000 followers. 

Kudrow's pregnancy with Julian was written into "Friends" as a storyline when she acted as a surrogate mother for her brother Frank and his wife Alice during the fourth and fifth seasons. Kudrow told PEOPLE in 2018 about how the cast also included Julian in their pre-show rituals while filming. "The six of us would do a huddle backstage and just say, 'All right, have a good show, love you love you love you love you,'" she recalled. "And when I was pregnant, then they would say, ‘Have a great show, love you love you — love you, little Julian!’ ‘Cause we knew it was a boy and that was his name," she added.

"So sweet, they included my little fetus in the huddle," she told the magazine. The cast has continued to be close to each other even after the series ended. In 2018, Kudrow spoke to Us Weekly, saying that she was in a text message chain with castmates Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox. 

Interestingly, Julian had once been confused as to who his mother was on set! TODAY reported that Kudrow also had an appearance last week on "Conan," where she told host Conan O'Brien that Julian thought Aniston was his mother a few times. "He got a little confused," she said. "I know that he really was obsessed with Jen...He'd fly into her lap. Well, she's a lovebug, and that made sense," she further added. "And I was always glad for anyone that Julian felt love for and felt from."

During her appearance, Kudrow also opened up about the “Friends” reunion, which debuted on May 27, 2021, after being postponed three times due to the pandemic. During the interview, Kudrow was asked whether Julian had seen "Friends" and if the experience was weird for him to see his mother on television. 

"We haven’t talked about why, I just know that he hasn’t seen every episode," Kudrow told O'Brien, which surprised him. "I know for a while in school people were watching it and he kind of felt like he had to so that he could participate in what everyone else was watching and he did really think that everyone else was very funny on the show...I know that he would say 'And you're funny too...' Like...thanks."

Like old times, however, Julian was with his mother on the set of the reunion. "He was able to come to the reunion,” she explained to O'Brien. "And afterward he came up to me and just said, ‘I don’t know if this is awkward or inappropriate…Can I say that I’m really proud of you?’ That was one of the very emotional things that happened to me that’s not part of it. It was really nice of him. He was proud." 

Even though Kudrow has been in the limelight for several decades, a great portion of her personal life has been kept private. Although people were able to see her pregnant on “Friends” with Julian, her son is rarely featured on the actress’ social media pages. This is why fans are so thrilled when they finally get another glimpse into the world of Kudrow and her son.

On May 7, 2023, Kudrow shared another beautiful post for her son on her Instagram page to celebrate his birthday. The video showed several different framed photos of Julian from over the years, from when he was very small to more recent times. It even included a photo of him graduating from college. 

During the video, the actress happily sang “Happy Birthday” as she continued to highlight all of the beautiful photos of Julian. Kudrow wrote, “Happy birthday my lovely boy,” in the text layover on the video.

Kudrow’s fans took to the comment section to share their own birthday messages to Julian, as turning 25 is a huge milestone. Many people referenced the show “Friends” as well. One person commented, “The one where Julian turns 25.” Another said, “Omg what a famous boy! In a time in his life he’s been triplets in Friends. He’s a good looking boy 🥰 Happy birthday !”

Another person commented, “Happy Birthday Phoebo.. 🥳.” The latter was in reference to when Kudrow’s character Phoebe said she would name a baby Phoebe if it was a girl and Phoebo if it was a boy.

There’s no doubt that Kudrow has an immense amount of love for Julian, and we’re grateful for the precious moments she shares with him and the world.

Are you a fan of Lisa Kudrow? What do you think about her heartfelt posts for her son over the years? Let us know, and be sure to pass this along to your family and friends.