17 female celebrity besties both on and off screen, from Marvel’s Salma Hayek and Pirates of the Caribbean star Penélope Cruz, to Ariana Grande and Elizabeth Gillies, to Zendaya and Hunter Schafer
- Eternals star Hayek was Cruz’s first friend in the US and gave her a helping hand, she told Ellen DeGeneres, while Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin have acted together for over 40 years
- Rachel and Monica’s bond on hit 90s TV show Friends lives on IRL through Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox, and Zendaya and Hunter Schafer got close on HBO’s Euphoria
Hollywood has given us many fictional friendships that have turned into real-life ones. Some duos, like the frenemies of Victorious, might surprise you. But in fact, many of these duos, trios and quartets have gone on to collaborate time and time again.
Here are just a few pairs of female celebrity besties in Hollywood …
Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin
Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin are lifelong friends who have played pals in several projects.
Fonda and Tomlin have collaborated on- and off-screen for more than 40 years. They first acted together in 9 to 5 in 1980, in which they played rebellious secretaries alongside Dolly Parton.
“We’ve been friends ever since. We’re friends because I just love her. I know Jane has my back whenever she can,” Tomlin later told The Washington Post in 2017.
Ever since, they have supported each other professionally and personally throughout their long Hollywood friendship from TV shows to climate strikes.
Most recently, they starred as best friends going through divorces from their husbands in Netflix’s longest-running original series, Grace and Frankie. The series ended in May 2022 after seven seasons.
While discussing their temporary parting of the ways on Good Morning America in April 2022, Fonda said, “I have a physical emptiness when she’s not around. I miss her physically,” adding, “It’s really nice to love somebody who you spend so much time with.”