Celeb Visits ‘Beautiful’ Poughkeepsie, Hopes Child Moves There

A well-known celebrity has found a new love for Poughkeepsie, New York after a secret visit and is now enlisting the help of a former Friends star to relocate his daughter there.

Jason Bateman recently disclosed that he and his daughter made a discreet trip to Poughkeepsie this spring. The Ozark star shared the visit details during a recent episode of Smartless, a podcast he hosts along with friends and fellow celebrities Will Arnet and Sean Hayes.

On the podcast, each week, one of the famous hosts surprises the others with a celebrity guest. In Monday’s episode, Lisa Kudrow joined as the guest. During her introduction, Hayes mentioned that the former Friends star graduated from Vassar College. This immediately caught Bateman’s attention, prompting him to interrupt and declare that the school’s campus was “beautiful.”

Throughout the interview, the conversation returned to Kudrow’s time at Vassar College, where she majored in biology. Bateman seized this moment to reveal that he and his daughter recently toured the Poughkeepsie campus. His oldest daughter, Francesca, who is now 17, is in the process of searching for colleges.

Amused, Bateman asked Kudrow if she could help get Francesca into Vassar, given that she is one of the school’s most famous alums. Hayes then questioned Bateman if his daughter was genuinely interested in attending the prestigious institution.

While Bateman refrained from listing the schools Francesca was considering, he continued to speak fondly about the Vassar campus, even comparing it to Hogwarts from the Harry Potter series. Kudrow, agreeing with the sentiment, joked that the school is so beautiful “a lot of people end up at Vassar just from the tour.” When asked about her own experience at the college, Kudrow warmly replied, “With all my heart.”

Vassar College in Poughkeepsie has an impressive roster of celebrity alumni. Acclaimed names such as Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Jane Fonda, Jackie Kennedy, Justin Long, Anthony Bourdain, Mark Ronson, and Mike D of the Beastie Boys have all studied at the institution.

If Francesca Bateman decides to attend Vassar, she certainly wouldn’t be the first child of a celebrity to do so. Stars like William H. Macy, Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hanks, and Stephen King have all sent their children to Vassar.