Kristin Chenoweth is not the type to nurture grudges. In fact, the Wicked alum dismissed rumors that she and costar Idina Menzel didn't get along while originating the roles of Glinda and Elphaba, respectively, in the 2003 Broadway production. She explained that the whispers stemmed from their familial-like bond. "We are so different in the way we do our process that of course rumors are going to fly, right?" Kristin told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published on November 3. "She and I, only we know what we went through to get to where we were."
The 57-year-old actress added, "We would die for each other. So it's like sisters. Are sisters always perfect? So it's family. That's the best way I can describe it." Indeed, it's not the first time Kristin—who was nominated alongside and ultimately lost to Idina for Best Lead Actress in a Musical at the 2004 Tony Awards—has likened her experience of starring in the stage version of Wicked to being in a "family."
"I'm sure, as a sister, I got on her nerves sometimes," she told Vulture during a joint October 2023 interview with Idina. "I'm positive I did. I get on my own nerves most of the time. But you also know what the other one's going through. Nobody else can know that but us."
In addition to Kristin dealing with the emotional turmoil of her mother's cancer diagnosis while starring in the musical, both she and Idina were battling exhaustion from workshopping the show for over three years. However, the pair always found solace in the musical's touching final duet "For Good." "Whatever was going on in our own lives, it was nice to always be able to come to that at the end of a show," Idina told Vulture. "We would always look at each other and say, 'I got you. You got me. We're making this thing together. We love each other.'" She added, "People were saying stuff out there, and we were good at trying to bring it back to the two of us, because that's all that matters."
