'Friends' Reunion Exclusive: Cast Reflects on Beloved Show Before "Emotional" Special | PEOPLE (2023)

FAQs

Did the actors on Friends sleep with each other? ›

According to actor Matthew Perry, they did not. The actor who played Chandler said that there was a pact between the cast mates to not hook up with each other. “There was a rule that we had, it was really important to the six of us that we kept a friendship, that we were friends.

After the full-length trailer of the reunion was released last week, viewers noticed that Matthew Perry—who played Chandler Bing in the hit show—appeared to have slurred speech. Apparently, Matthew had emergency surgery before filming, which caused the slurred speech.

No, the cast of Friends never dated each other but were involved at that time or in the past with a few of the guest appearances. Fans frequently questioned whether any of the show's plotlines had any real implications.

Courteney Cox (monica Geller)

Cox was the only established star before the show started, starring in NBC's Misfits of Science and appearing in ABC's The Love Bloat, Murder, She Wrote, Family Ties and an episode of Friends' network mate, Seinfeld.

In-universe, Joey had initially gone in to read for a one-shot role as a cab driver; it is implied that he got the recurring role of Ramoray by sleeping with the casting director.

“Kauffman and Crane understood that the Joey-Rachel relationship would end before it really began,” Miller writes. “They would never have sex or say the L-word; that would be too much to recover from. Once they actually hooked up, the characters (like the audience) would be too weirded out, and preoccupied with Ross.”

“My weight varied between 9st 2lb (58kg) and 16st 1lb (102kg) during the Friends years.” He said his thin frame - most notable at the beginning of season seven - was due to the opioids, a drug that can suppress a user's appetite and cause vomiting.

David Schwimmer aka Ross Geller does NOT want a reunion

“Look, the thing is, I just don't know if I want to see all of us with crutches [and] walkers.

As for why Rudd, who played Phoebe's husband Mike, and Sprouse, who portrayed Ross' son Ben, weren't involved in the reunion, it sounds as though there were just too many stars to fit in with so little time. "Well, we couldn't have everybody on, because it's only an hour and 45 minutes.

Matt LeBlanc's Joey Tribbiani had the most sexual partners over 10 seasons of the show: 17, according to an analysis by splitsider.com. 23.5 percent ended in long lasting relationships. Splitsider.com reports that the six main characters had a total of 85 sexual partners over 236 episodes.

Did Courteney Cox and Matthew Perry dated in real life? ›

Matthew Perry and Courteney Cox's chemistry as Chandler Bing and Monica Geller was so strong that many fans wondered if the actors had an offscreen romantic connection. Despite falling in love and getting married on Friends, Perry and Cox's real-world relationship has always been platonic.

Monica had the most relationships of all the group in the series, but her taste in men was also the best. Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry) was her final and forever-lasting relationship which ended in marriage and twins. They were friends for many early seasons, but at Ross's wedding began to cross the Platonic barrier.

Matthew Perry Initially Turned Down His Role On Friends And Coached Another Actor For The Part Instead. Craig Bierko came close to taking on the role of Chandler in Friends over Matthew Perry.

The 54-year-old actor starred as Ross Geller in the worldwide hit sitcom – which ran from 1994 to 2004 and focused on six close friends living in New York – but admitted he was so fed up with his ideas being rejected during his stint as Greg Richardson on 1994's short-lived 'Monty' series starring Harry Winkler, that ...

Since Perry didn't think he was available for Friends, he coached his former co-star, Craig Bierko. Bierko was the producer's choice for Chandler, but he turned it down.

Yep, over the course of ten seasons, Joey only has sex with 17 people. Not surprisingly, only four of these people were while in a serious relationship since he was the only Friends character to never get married.

While Joey is in his final year at school, he develops schizophrenia. Normally balanced, Joey begins acting strangely and knows that he is not feeling right.

The six cast members of hit sitcom 'Friends' may have had romantic liaison with each other on the show but they never dated each other off screen. The six cast members of hit sitcom 'Friends' may have had romantic liaison with each other on the show but they never dated each other off screen.

Rachel slept with 19 men throughout the series. One of them rather memorably played by Bruce Willis. Close behind is Ross Geller who slept with 17 women.

In a candid conversation with Diane Sawyer from ABC special, Matthew said that the video clip illustrates the toll his addiction to pills took on his body and shared how drugs squashed his appetite, causing him to lose a ton of weight to the point where it was unhealthy.

Why did Chandler lose and gain weight in Friends? ›

"Friends" fans will remember Matthew Perry's weight fluctuations during his years as the lovably sarcastic Chandler Bing on the hit NBC sitcom. They were the physical manifestations of his addiction to alcohol and prescription drugs, the 43-year-old actor told ABC News in a new interview.

Didn't anyone notice that Chandler Bing lost a lot of weight after season 6 on Friends? Yes. Matthew Perry was suffering from drug addiction (to Eutanazol) and lost 20 pounds due to pancreatitis in 2000. Later (2001) he entered rehab for drug and alcohol abuse.

During a recent interview with Hollywood Reporter, the actress recalled walking out of the reunion special show of 'Friends' because it reminded her of the "hardest time" in her life. Aniston parted ways with her then-husband actor Brad Pitt a year after the hit show ended in 2004.

Explaining why she can't remember filming much of the show, Cox revealed that ever since she was a kid she's always had a bad memory. "It's really basic; I don't remember any trauma in my childhood, but I have, like, three memories. I don't know. I don't know why."

Watch 'Friends: The Reunion' on HBO Max

So, how much are we talking, exactly? Well, Courtney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and Matthew Perry are all reportedly earning anywhere between $2.5 million to $3 million for the reunion special, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Aniston, 53, remains close with her former castmates. "Every time we all get together, it's just like no time has passed," she says. "We basically grew up together, and taught each other a lot ... And thank God we had each other, because we really couldn't talk about it outside.

The director of the HBO Max special, Ben Winston, explained the absences, telling The Wrap that not including Rudd, 52, and Sprouse, 28, was simply a matter of logistics. "Well, we couldn't have everybody on, because it's only an hour and 45 minutes.

So Elliot Gould and Christina Pickles, Ross and Monica's parents Jack and Judy, could be adding $20,000 and $19,000 to their bank accounts every year. Maggie Wheeler, who played Janice, could be getting a cheque for $19,000. Jane Sibbett, aka Ross's ex-wife Carol, may be receiving $15,000.

Chandler is arguably most people's favorite character in Friends. His witty remarks, smart comebacks, and on-and-off relationship with Janice cemented him as the funny guy in the group.

Who is the most promiscuous Friends character? ›

The most promiscuous one was Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc), who racked up 17 partners, 23.5 percent of whom accounted for relatively long lasting relationships.

Matthew Perry, in his memoir, revealed that he had a huge crush on Jennifer Aniston and even asked her out. But Aniston rejected the proposal. Actor Matthew Perry's sarcastic, emotionally awkward character of Chandler Bing in the popular sitcom Friends brought him unparalleled popularity.

In the end, Joey was the only one from the main group in Friends who didn't get married, but he did end up in a committed relationship with Alex and grew in the process.

Following the reunion, dating rumours started to swirl. However, Schwimmer's representative told Elle it was false news while Anniston responded in an interview, saying that it was 'bizarre' to her.

Ross: 14 sex partners. Monica: 14.5 sex partners.

Matthew Perry said he had crushes on "Friends" costars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, and Lisa Kudrow. Perry said his crushes "made it kind of difficult to go to work" because he had to act normal. He detailed his crush on Aniston, in particular in his memoir, "Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing."

Casting. Monica is portrayed by American actress Courteney Cox. Crane and Kauffman had originally written the role of Monica with comedienne Janeane Garofalo in mind, because they were drawn to her "edgier and snarkier" voice. However, Garofalo turned down the offer.

The role of Rachel was originally offered to Téa Leoni, the producer's first choice, and Courteney Cox, both of whom declined, Leoni in favor of starring in the sitcom The Naked Truth, and Cox in favor of playing Rachel's best friend Monica in Friends.

After auditioning for the role of Rachel, the producers were believed to have had Jane Krakowski in mind for the role. Meanwhile, Ellen DeGeneres was actually the producers' first choice to play Phoebe, but she turned it down – although considering she's now a talk show queen, we reckon she's done alright.

Did the Friends cast take anything from the set? ›

Matthew Perry nabbed a cookie jar with a clock face on it to later give to Kudrow as a present, "because she at one point looked at it and thought it was a real clock." In a similar spirit, Matt LeBlanc took an "I Love Friends" license plate frame that he subsequently put on David Schwimmer's car.

Yes, "Friends" stars are still friends in real life, as Jennifer Aniston is the godmother of Coco, Courteney's daughter; Matt LeBlanc traveled to support Perry for his written play; and many more instances can be caught on their social media handles.

No, Ross is just a self-absorbed person with poor emotional control. While those can be traits seen in people with Asperger syndrome (now considered just a part of the wider autism spectrum instead of its own separate thing), they aren't diagnostic and are seen in plenty of neurotypical people.

You might not believe it, but Friends creator David Crane revealed he initially wrote the role of Monica with Reality Bites' Janeane Garofalo in mind - it was only when Courtney Cox nailed the audition that they changed the character a bit.

Courteney Cox, who played Monica Geller, revealed in a 2022 interview with Today that she doesn't like watching re-runs for a very particular reason. The network often speeds the episodes up, so they can fit in more commercial breaks, which then alters the voices and actions of the cast.

The moment where Chandler hits his head because of pulling the drawer cuffed to his hand into his head in the middle of a sentence was not scripted to happen and completely accidental.

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Splitsider.com reports that the six main characters had a total of 85 sexual partners over 236 episodes. Lisa Kudrow's Phoebe Buffay and David Schwimmer's Ross Gellar tied for second, with 16 partners each.

Turns out that the “Friends” had lots of special friends. After surveying all 236 episodes of the NBC sitcom, humor Web site splitsider.com has found that the six characters had a total of 85 sexual partners — counting only those that appeared on-screen — throughout the series' 10-season run.

Matt LeBlanc and Jennifer Aniston

Both vehemently shut down claims made by Matt's father Paul that they had an on-set fling. “[Matt] got on good with Jen. He told me about it – they would make out in the dressing room," Paul told OK!

So the actors kiss, but their characters, Monica and Joey, never "actually" do. Chandler, Phoebe, Rachel and Ross kiss everyone else at one time or another, although Ross and his sister, Monica, never kiss on screen.

Who had the highest body count in Friends? ›

Monica Geller slept with 13 men in her time on the show. Her conquests included Richard, Fun Bobby and, of course, Chandler. And in last place is Chandler who managed to pull ten ladies throughout the series. At least he managed to win over Monica in the end.

Chandler had the most screen appearances (1400), Seth found, using the rule that only a scene in which a character speaks a line counts as an appearance. Both Rachel (1370) and Ross (1330) were very close behind, though.

Lisa Kudrow

Yup, it's Kudrow, and it's not even close. Her 14 nominations (six for “Friends,” eight for post-“Friends” programs) easily outpace LeBlanc's seven and Aniston's six (though she did win one). This kind of goldmine supports an argument many have always believed: Kudrow is the best actor of the cast.

Lisa Kudrow

The most natural comedian on Friends and far and away the cast member with the widest range, Kudrow made some of the best movies (Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, The Opposite of Sex) and was the first out of the gate with a follow-up TV show.

As one of the most famous NYC apartments in TV history, the Friends condo has been coveted by generations. Apparently, it was rent-controlled at $200 a month (outrageous!) because Monica's grandmother left her the apartment.

Yep, over the course of ten seasons, Joey only has sex with 17 people. Not surprisingly, only four of these people were while in a serious relationship since he was the only Friends character to never get married.

But reps for both shut it down, with Jen's publicist stating, "Jennifer has never had a romantic or sexual relationship with Matt LeBlanc."

In real life, at the time of filming, Jennifer Aniston (Rachel) actually was a smoker but on the verge of quitting.

Just because the practice of platonic kissing isn't familiar to you doesn't mean it's not common elsewhere. "Platonic lip kissing is found in cultures around the world, between friends, family, and sometimes even strangers as a means of greeting," says Allison Moon, author of "Girl Sex 101."

Who has Joey not kissed on Friends? ›

With the Phoebe idea scrapped, Joey later had an almost-romance with Rachel, breaking every rule in the Bro Code handbook by kissing Ross' ex. In the end, the only two Friends to have never shared an onscreen kiss — either in regular episodes or in fantasy sequences – were Monica and Phoebe, according to Factinate.