The spat that threatened to ‘destroy’ the bond between the Friends cast, as Lisa Kudrow admits the six-way relationship ‘took some work’
The cast of Friends had a special bond, but an argument once threatened to ‘destroy’ their relationship.
It was about money, with American actress Jennifer Aniston, 55, who played Rachel Green, revealing that the show’s bosses once suggested giving two of the show’s main characters a higher salary.
Given their increased airtime during the later seasons, bosses suggested that Jennifer and David Schwimmer, 58, who played Ross Geller, would be paid higher.
The salary increase did not apply to the beloved sitcom’s other main characters, Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe Buffay), Courteney Cox (Monica Geller), Matt LeBlanc (Joey Tribbiani) and the late Matthew Perry (Chandler Bing).
However, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal last year, Aniston said, “It would have destroyed us, I think, if someone was taking off financially.”
The show of commitment to their friendship allowed the team to build a relationship that extended beyond the business world.
Lisa echoed Jennifer’s sentiments earlier this week, admitting that each member needed to work on friendship.
The 61 year old actress opened up about her relationship with her costars on the Armchair expert podcast and said that the “six-way relationship took some work” and that they “worked hard to become friends.”
Jennifer Anniston revealed the producer’s suggestion could have ‘destroyed’ her friendship with the cast (photo: clockwise from bottom left, Courteney Cox as ‘Monica Geller’, Matt LeBlanc as ‘Joey Tribbiani’, Lisa Kudrow as ‘Phoebe Buffay’, David Schwimmer as ‘Ross Geller’, Matthew Perry as ‘Chandler Bing’, Jennifer Aniston as ‘Rachel Green’ in a ‘Friends’ group portrait)
During a podcast this week, Lisa Kudrow (pictured in December) said the six-way relationship ‘took work’
She noted that the result was the authentic chemistry between her and Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and the late Matthew Perry.
She said that over the course of the TV series’ 10 seasons, she and her co-stars became real friends.
Therefore, they had to do their best to ‘really talk things through’ when they had a misunderstanding with each other.
“If someone said or did something, it didn’t become too big because it was, ‘Can I talk to you?’
She said she struggled with the open communication style, explaining that it was “usually not me” who would start the conversation first.
“I had to learn to say, ‘Can I talk to you about something?'” She said it was “difficult” because she was not familiar with honest and straightforward dialogue.
She explained that she “never knew that was allowed,” but she learned about “respectful communication” from her fellow actors.
“I saw it being modeled really well by Courteney, Jennifer and Matt,” the 61-year-old said.
She told Shepard that the “six-way relationship took some work” and that they “worked hard to become friends”
She said that over the course of the TV series’ 10 seasons, she and her co-stars became real friends. For that reason, they had to do their best to ‘really talk things through’ when they had misunderstandings with each other
Pictured from left to right: Courteney Cox (Monica Geller), Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe Buffay) and Jennifer Aniston (Rachel Green) from ‘Friends’
It comes months after she revealed she started re-watching Friends to keep her late co-star Perry’s memory alive following his tragic death in October 2023.
Kudrow co-starred with Perry’s funny character Chandler Bing on the show from 1994 to 2004.
Following his tragic death at the age of 54 in October 2023, she said she started watching episodes to celebrate her late co-star and friend.
“Honestly, I couldn’t watch it because it’s too embarrassing to watch yourself,” she said The Hollywood Reporter in June. “But if I make it about Matthew, that’s okay.”
She continued, “And it just celebrates how hilarious he was – and that’s what I want to remember [about him].’
She said the talent of her castmates blew her away, and of Perry she said, “Nobody ever knew that cadence or that comedic rhythm before him.”
Kudrow also reflected on the days on set with Perry, who she said often made her cry with laughter.
“You basically laugh all day between scenes because these are funny people,” she recalled. ‘
And especially someone like Matthew, whose goal was: How many laughs can I get every day in real life? So we always laughed so hard that tears flew down our faces.’
In October, Jennifer shared never-before-seen photos of Matthew Perry to mark the one-year anniversary of his shock death.
The first image showed the two 30 years ago, when Friends was just becoming a hugely popular TV show.
Jennifer still had her Rachel haircut as she was dressed in a black short sleeve T-shirt with a gold watch on top. Matthew wore a white T-shirt and track jacket as he messed around with food in a photo booth.
Two other images showed them on the set of Friends and the last was a single image of Perry smiling.
In her caption, the film icon wrote “1 year” while sharing the name of his foundation. There were also emojis for a red heart, a band-aid and a dove.