Friends Star Matt LeBlanc's Daughter Marina Has A Rare Health Condition

Matt LeBlanc was living every actor's dream in the '90s. He had a starring role on "Friends," and, by season 10 of the sitcom, he was raking in over $1 million playing Joey Tribbiani , skyrocketing his already impressive net worth. In the early 2000s, however, life took a turn for the TV star. His spinoff, "Joey," wasn't captivating audiences, and more importantly, he had a daughter to worry about. "It was a very, very hard time," he shared with Entertainment Weekly, speaking about his daughter, Marina, who was suffering from a unique medical condition at the time. "I almost had a nervous breakdown."

Marina was born in 2004 to LeBlanc and his now-ex-wife, Melissa McKnight. In Marina's infancy, her parents started to notice that something was wrong when she couldn't crawl properly, according to The London Evening Standard. LeBlanc's daughter was then diagnosed with cortical dysplasia, a genetic abnormality that affects the brain's cerebral cortex, leading to symptoms like seizures and motor problems, per the Cleveland Clinic. 

While Marina eventually grew out of it, LeBlanc has described her early years as "a very dark period." "For years and years, I barely left the house. I was burnt out," he told the Daily Mirror in 2016. "Most actors call their agents and say, 'What's going on?' I'd call mine and say, 'Please lose my number for a few years.'"

Matt LeBlanc is a quintessential girl dad. The "Man With A Plan" actor told People in 2020 that whatever interested his daughter interested him as well. "Horses and Rihanna" were the two things that LeBlanc's then-16-year-old was into. So, naturally, LeBlanc was embracing his equestrian and R&B sides. He continued, "This year for her birthday, [Marina] said, 'I want you to get Rihanna to come.' And, I was like, 'I'll get right on that, sure.'"

When it comes to following in her dad's footsteps, it seems Marina has inherited the entertainment gene. "She has a beautiful voice," LeBlanc told People in 2014. If Marina does eventually pursue a career in the spotlight, she has no better mentor than her father. Indeed, she was once fascinated with watching him on screen. LeBlanc told the Daily Express in 2018 that he and Marina would watch reruns of "Friends" together. "She loves to ask me questions about it," he revealed. "She'll say: 'Was that real? Did you really eat that? What did that taste like? Ooh, you ate that off the floor? That's gross! You're so funny, Dad.'"

However, her curiosity apparently didn't last long, as LeBlanc confessed to the Daily Mail in 2019, Marina was not so much a "Friends" fanatic anymore. "It's not her thing!" he told the outlet, adding, "Now I'm home so much, she thinks she sees me enough for her liking!"