Chabert played Claudia from the time she was 11 to 17
Credit: 20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection; Paul Archuleta/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Lacey Chabert is opening up about experiencing her first kiss in character at age 13 while playing Claudia Salinger on Party of Five
- She described the experience as “mortifying” but said she was grateful for the supportive cast and crew
- Chabert reflected on growing up in front of audiences and filming emotional moments like the show’s final scene in a new interview on Today
Lacey Chabert is sharing what it was like to experience her first kiss in-character, as Claudia Salinger on Party of Five.
Chabert, 43, briefly touched on her Party of Five years on Today with Jenna & Sheinelle, noting that it was “mortifying” to have her first kiss be on set.
“I think 13,” Chabert said in the Thursday, July 30 episode, when asked how old she was when the scene took place. “But it’s — you are going through all these changes, and growing up in front of people. Looking back as an adult, I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to be surrounded by.”
Credit: Getty
Chabert has previously touched on having her first kiss on the show, saying on Christine Taylor and David Lascher’s podcast Hey Dude… The 90s Called! in 2023: “It was a little bit of a different way of growing up and not everyone can relate to it. It was interesting because sometimes my character would go through things in life on the show that I had yet to actually go through in life. You know, like my first kiss and all of this kind of embarrassing stuff.”
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Chabert played Claudia from the time she was 11 to 17.
The Fox series revolved around the Salinger siblings — Charlie (Matthew Fox), Bailey (Scott Wolf), Julia (Neve Campbell), Claudia and baby Owen (Jacob Smith) — who were left to grow up on their own after losing their parents in a car accident. The acclaimed show earned a Golden Globe for Best Television Series — Drama in 1996.
In an April 2025 panel moderated by PEOPLE, Chabert spoke about filming the show’s final scene, saying she and her on-screen siblings all “burst into tears” when it wrapped.
“I thought it was a really nice way to end the show, and I remember we did that take [and] they call, like, ‘That’s a wrap,’ and we just all burst into tears, and we hugged, and we cried,” Chabert recalled.
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Chabert is currently starring in a new rom-com series, Paris Is Always a Good Idea on Hallmark+.
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