Fans of The Office were treated to a heartwarming story last week when Jenna Fischer revealed on Watch What Happens Live that she and John Krasinski – or at least, parts of them – were “genuinely in love” with each other during their time together on The Office as Jim and Pam:
“John and I have real chemistry. There’s a real part of me that is Pam and a real part of him that is Jim, and those parts of us were genuinely in love with one another. But in real life, we aren’t totally Pam and totally Jim, so in real life, we’re not the perfect match. So it’s a really complicated thing but, I mean, he was like a type of spouse that I had for a long time. He was my partner. We will always be close because of it.”
It was a sweet look back on the relationship that was truly the heart of The Office for its nine-season run, and really, what actors wouldn’t form a little love for one another after playing one of TV’s favorite couples for nearly a decade? Well, it’s time for the happy fantasy to end, because today John Krasinski felt the need to respond to all the headlines claiming the two were “genuinely in love,” and he was strangely defensive about it:
“I’m sure she was trying to say something nice about how genuine the acting relationship was, of bringing a relationship that became that popular onscreen—and I think we both feel it’s such an honor to be a part of that relationship. As far as how she was quoted about saying we were ‘genuinely in love,’ I think that was taken wildly out of context and I feel bad for her.”
Was this response even necessary when Fischer’s original comments made it clear that they weren’t really in love but that their chemistry meshed perfectly for their characters? In any case, Krasinski wants us all to know, definitively, that there was no part of him that loved Fischer – except, of course, the part of him that had to pretend to for the camera.
