Jennifer Coolidge admits ‘terrible mistake’ she made after playing Stifler’s mom in American Pie

Jennifer Coolidge has got quite the glittering CV, having starred in a series of cult classics while scooping several awards for her work in the process.

But despite her success, the actress still kicks herself for making a 'terrible mistake' during her career, which she has lived to regret.

As we all know, Coolidge got her big break when she played Jeanine Stifler - better known as Stifler's mom - in 1999's American Pie.

The actress, from Boston, Massachusetts, was still in her prime at the age of 38 when she played the role of the MILF.

The role opened a string of doors in Hollywood for Coolidge, seeing her go on to star in the ensuing American Pie films as well as Legally Blonde, Best in Show, and Zoolander.

In recent years, she's received critical acclaim for her incredible performances in the likes of The White Lotus and The Watcher.

The latter scored Coolidge two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe - so you'd think the actress would be looking back on her career quite fondly at this stage in the game.

And don't get me wrong, the 63-year-old does...it's just she wishes she had grabbed more of the opportunities that came her way by the balls.

Jennifer Coolidge opened up about her 'fatal flaw' while chatting with Jeremy Allen White (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)

In June 2023, she sat down with The Bear actor Jeremy Allen White, 33, as part of Variety’s 'Actors On Actors' series.

While the pair chatted, Coolidge began reminiscing on her past roles and mused about what she would have done differently in hindsight.

"Now that I’m old enough to really look back at my life and certainly my mistakes, I see a lot of those," she said. "But I never had any strategy.

"I just went job to job. I have to say, I made the terrible mistake of not riding the wave that I had early on.

"It was sort of in the ’90s when I had Legally Blonde, Best In Show and American Pie. And then a few years later, there was A Cinderella Story and stuff like that. But there was a moment."

The actress wishes she took more advantage of the buzz surrounding her after American Pie (Universal Pictures)

Coolidge explained she wishes she had seized her 'moment' in the spotlight with more vigour, however, her attention was diverted elsewhere at the time.

"I started pursuing guys," the actress confessed. "I wasn’t paying attention. I just thought I had my whole life.

"I never said, ‘I want to do’. I did get some jobs, but I didn’t have a plan. And I think that was a fatal flaw of mine, because it took so long to get anything going later.

"I look back and I go, ‘What was I thinking?’ And then I bought a house in New Orleans, and I was consumed with fixing that up."

Those home renovations are no joke - and she still lives in her seven-bedroom pad which she purchased in 2005 today, according to reports, so at least the hard work paid off.

So even though Coolidge might see her job to job approach as a 'terrible mistake', maybe everything worked out exactly how it should have in the end.