James Franco Says Longtime Friendship with Seth Rogen Is 'Over' After His Controversy: 'We Had 20 Great Years Together'

Mar. 15, 2025

James Francobelieves his longtime friendship withSeth Rogenhas run its course.

Ernesto Ruscio/Getty; Rodin Eckenroth/Getty

“I haven’t talked to Seth. I love Seth, we had 20 great years together, but I guess it’s over,” Franco said of his relationship with his frequent collaborator on projects likeFreaks and Geeks, Pineapple Express,This Is The EndandThe Disaster Artist.

“And not for lack of trying. I’ve told him how much he’s meant to me,” Franco added.

Seth Rogen and James Franco in Pineapple Express.Dale Robinette/Columbia

Franco’s career stalled after two of those former acting studentsfiled a sexual misconduct lawsuitin 2019. Francosettled the lawsuitin 2021, and records PEOPLE obtained at the time showed that heagreed to pay $2.235 millionin the settlement.

“While Defendants continue to deny the allegations in the Complaint, they acknowledge that Plaintiffs have raised important issues; and all parties strongly believe that now is a critical time to focus on addressing the mistreatment of women in Hollywood,” both parties said in a joint statement released in 2021.

That same year, Rogen said in an interview that hehad no plans to work with Francomoving forward.

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“I’m so grateful to be working. I did go through a lawsuit, and during that lawsuit I wasn’t working. But then COVID hit so everybody wasn’t working. So, I don’t know, it was all… I mean, we were all kind of in it. So it was sort of like, ‘I don’t know what I am,'” Franco toldVariety, while speaking to his hiatus from Hollywood.

“But I did certainly use the time to, I hope, good purpose. And whatever had been going on with me before, I had to change my whole way of life. So I am proud of the kind of work I did during that time. And yeah, I wasn’t working in movies, but I certainly was doing a lot of work to change who I was.”

James Franco and Seth Rogen in The Interview.Ed Araquel/Columbia/Point Grey/Kobal/Shutterstock

“Being told you’re bad is painful,” he added elsewhere in the piece. “But ultimately, that’s kind of what I needed to just stop going the way I was going."

As Franco begins to resume his film career —Varietynoted at least three additional projects he has in the works — the actor recalled that he “didn’t really have a personal life” in the past, while speaking to a workaholic attitude prior to that lawsuit.

“I had friends, but it was always sort of enmeshed with my work,” he said. “And so, yeah, I put a lot of time into my personal life. I’ve had a relationship for seven-and-a-half years [with actress and filmmaker Izabel Pakzad]. I was never able to do that before. I was just too scared, really … to have any sort of real intimacy with anyone.”

source: people.com