Back in 2000, Lucy Liu seemed to have a disagreement with co-star Bill Murray on the set of Charlie’s Angels. While the spat swirled around the Hollywood rumor mill years later, Lucy Liu recently confirmed it - and her fellow angel Drew Barrymore revealed that she totally backed her up.
Last July, Lucy Liu discussed the flare-up on the Los Angeles Times’ Asian Enough podcast. Apparently, comedian Bill Murray (who played John Bosley) had made some uncouth comments that were directed towards the Shazam! Fury of the Gods star. Being the badass that she is, Lucy Liu wasted no time in standing up for herself.
Fortunately, the strong female relationships that formed the backbone of Charlie’s Angels seem to transcend the cameras. On a recent episode of her talk show The Drew Barrymore Show, Charlie’s Angels alum Drew Barrymore revealed that she had fully supported Lucy Liu, whom she still considers a close friend. While Drew Barrymore doesn’t offer a lot of details about the event itself, she does focus on Lucy Liu’s powerful response. She said:
What really happened was Bill was just in a — you know, comedians can be a little dark sometimes — and he just came in in a bad mood. And what you have to know is how much Lucy stood up for herself and that was the great thing that came out of an unfortunate circumstance. She literally said, ‘I do not accept that kind of behavior from you.’ And we all supported her and backed her up and we moved forward.
It’s clear that Drew Barrymore has a deep admiration for her co-star, as well as the rest of the crew of Charlie’s Angels. It couldn’t have been easy for Lucy Liu to speak out against Bill Murray, whose celebrity far eclipsed her own at the time. That makes her ability to speak up even more impressive. Drew Barrymore seems to agree: rather than dwell on the past, she re-emphasized her respect for Lucy Liu:
I respected her then, I respect her now. I am proud of us as a team and a company that we didn’t tiptoe on the eggshells. We dealt with it right then and there, we were strong and we moved forward and we didn’t accept anything less moving forward.
It’s good to know that the sisterhood of Charlie’s Angels is still intact, even after 20 years. While it can be a challenge to navigate professional conflicts, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu prove that anything is possible with their friends by their side.
The Drew Barrymore Show is currently airing weekday mornings on CBS at 9 am. Charlie’s Angels is available to stream now on Netflix.
