Lisa Kudrow has clarified a claim made about her time on Friends by Jennifer Aniston.
Earlier this year, Aniston sat down with Abbott Elementary star Quinta Brunson, who once playfully called out the sitcom for having no Black characters, to discuss her career – including her time playing Rachel Green.
During the Variety’s Actors on Actors interview series, Aniston reflected on having to act out scenes in front of a live audience, stating that Kudrow “hated when the audience laughed”.
Phoebe Buffay actor Kudrow, who previously admitted she has never watched all of the series back, has now addressed this comment, telling Entertainment Tonight: “No, that’s not exactly… no, no. It irritated me if they would laugh for too long.”
In 2021, Kudrow revealed she was the only main cast member to have never watched all of the series back.
During a reunion special, which she participated in with Aniston, David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc and the late Matthew Perry, Kudrow said she found seeing herself on screen “traumatising”.
“There are seasons I’ve never seen,” Lisa Kudrow, who played Phoebe, admitted.
Both Aniston and LeBlanc replied in unison: “I’ve seen them all,” with Cox adding: “I’d imagine I’ve seen them all.”
Lisa Kudrow at the ‘Friends’ reunion in 2021 (HBO)
Kudrow elaborated upon her reasoning, saying: “Michel [Stern, Kudrow’s husband] and I started watching some of season four, which I thought I had watched.”
When Perry asked her if she “enjoys” watching episodes back, she replied: “He enjoys them more than I do ‘cause I’m mortified with myself.”
“Why?!” Aniston exclaimed, adding: “You’re so good.”
Schwimmer then said it took him 17 years to watch the series back, and that he did so with his daughter. “It kinda sucked me into it,” he said.
However, the biggest moment of the reunion arrived when Aniston and Schwimmer revealed they had real-life feelings for each other while filming the show.
Jennifer Aniston at the ‘Friends’ reunion special in 2021 (HBO)
Schwimmer said: “The first season I had a major crush on Jen – we were both crushing hard on one another, but it was like two ships passing ‘cause one of us was always in a relationship and we never crossed that boundary.”
Aniston said the actor’s feelings were “reciprocated”, and said the pair would “spoon and fall asleep on the couch” together during breaks in rehearsal. The actor said the pair focused on “channelling all our adoration and love for one another into Ross and Rachel” instead.
Despite this, she recalled telling Schwimmer: “It’s going to be such a bummer if the first time you and I kiss is going to be on national television”.
This would indeed be the case, with Ross and Rachel having their first kiss in Central Perk in season two episode, “The One Where Ross Finds Out”.
