With an enduring global legacy and millions of hooked fans around the world, Friends is arguably the most popular sitcom of all time.
The show, which follows the lives of six friends living in New York City in their 20s, turned all of its main cast members into stars: Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer.
Fans still stream the show to this day on Netflix and also tune in to any behind-the-scenes secrets that are spilled—and there have been plenty of those.
Over the years, several little-known facts about the making of the show have come to light, including the fact that Jennifer Aniston almost quit Friends before the finale.
It has also been revealed that the cast banded together and staged an intervention for one cast member, who was always late to set. Read on to find out who the tardy friend was.
The Relationship Of The ‘Friends’ Cast
From behind-the-scenes footage, social media posts, and several interviews over the years, we know for a fact that the Friends cast are friends in real life.
Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer genuinely get along in real life and did get along while they were filming the 10-season series.
They always speak out in support of one another, regularly show their love for one another, and were bursting with emotion when they reunited for the 2021 reunion special.
But that doesn’t mean that there were never any hiccups between them. Like all real friendships, the cast did disagree from time to time. One such issue occurred when the cast decided to sit Jennifer Aniston down and stage an intervention.
Jennifer Aniston’s Role On The Show
On the show, Jennifer Aniston played Rachel Green, a character that ended up being one of the most popular friends.
Rachel begins her journey as a spoiled rich girl running away from her no-good partner on her wedding day. Reuniting with her old friend Monica Geller and her group of friends, Rachel learns to stand on her own two feet. All the characters go through impressive arcs, but Rachel’s may be the biggest.
At the height of Friends' success, Rachel Green became a fashion icon. Viewers wanted to dress like her, have her job at Ralph Lauren, and even cut their hair into layers like hers.
But it turns out Rachel Green wasn't exactly perfect. Or at least, the actress behind her wasn't.
Why They Needed An Intervention For Jennifer Aniston
Although Jennifer Aniston got on with the rest of the cast, she did get on their nerves by being frequently late to set.
According to Cheat Sheet, David Schwimmer, who played Rachel Green’s main love interest Ross Geller, was the one to initiate the intervention, but the rest of the cast was totally on board. At the intervention, Lisa Kudrow, who played Phoebe Buffay, reportedly told Aniston, “You have bad luck getting to work.”
We don’t have much more detail as to what was said during the intervention, but the process worked. There seems to be no bad blood between the cast members and they continued to create hilarious episodes for a decade.
Jennifer Aniston Also Stole From The Set
As far as low-key vices go, Jennifer Aniston had another habit that may have been frowned upon: stealing from the set.
When the cast got together to film the reunion, Aniston herself admitted that she had sticky fingers and took a few choice items from the set, including shoes and outfits that she still wears.
Rachel Green’s wardrobe garnered the most attention, but Aniston revealed that she also swiped some items from Monica’s wardrobe.
The ‘Friends’ Cast’s Early Impressions Of Jennifer Aniston
Even with her late habit and tendency to take nice things from the set (and really, who wouldn’t?), the rest of the cast were smitten with Aniston, both as a person and an actress.
Christina Pickles, who played Judy Geller, the mother of Monica and Ross, revealed (via The Guardian), “I knew Jennifer Aniston would be a huge success from the moment I saw her in rehearsals.”
And she was right!
Jennifer Aniston’s Feelings About Being On ‘Friends’
Jennifer Aniston has made no secret about how grateful she is to have been part of Friends, a show that turned her into a household name. Cosimo Fusco, who played the guest role of Paolo on the series, opened up about how the actress felt when Friends first found success.
“When I taped my first episode, no one had seen it on TV yet. While we were filming, they announced the show had been commissioned for 12 episodes. Jennifer Aniston basically cried in my lap because nothing like that had ever happened to her before,” Fusco elaborated.
Aniston’s tears show how grateful she was to be on the show and how lucky she felt to finally make it in Hollywood, even if she was a little behind schedule sometimes.
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