Everyone was shocked a few weeks ago to see pictures of a fully gray haired Matt LeBlanc out and about in the public eye again. But in truth..the now 43 year-old actor has been going gray since way back in his Friends days.

Six years after the end of the Friends and four after his spinoff Joey ended…he decided to go au naturel.

“I dyed my hair the whole time on ‘Friends,’” he admitted Thursday at a Television Critics’ Panel in Beverly Hills for his new Showtime series “Episodes.”

“I just was sick of doing it,” LeBlanc explained of darkening his hair.  “When ‘Joey’ ended, I took a lot of time off… I just really was kinda burned out. I just wanted to be a dad.”

When did Joey get so old?

No longer the Italian hottie we all loved in the 90′s on Friends…he has somehow morphed into a heavy-set Matt Lauer / Matthew Broderick mash-up.

Last week reports surfaced that Friends would be coming to the big screen..sadly they turned out to false. Or maybe that was a good thing. Not sure how that show would transfer to the big screen. But at least we have Matt LeBlanc’s new show to look forward to.

LeBlanc will star in “Episodes,” a single-camera series about a husband-and-wife producing team whose witty hit comedy on British TV is turned into a dumbed-down American sitcom starring LeBlanc, who plays himself.

“Episodes” is a send-up of the TV world and LeBlanc’s image as a sitcom veteran. The show will be a co-production of Showtime and the BBC and will begin shooting a six-episode season in London and Hollywood this winter. It is scheduled to air next year on Showtime and BBC Two. LeBlanc played Joey Tribbiani on “Friends” for a decade. He followed that NBC hit in 2004 with a sitcom based on the same character, “Joey,” which flopped.

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