It would be hard for anyone born after 2000 to understand just how momentous Friends was for an entire generation. The show singlehandedly changed the course of sitcoms; naturally, everyone wanted to join the gang at Central Perk. Well, everyone but these 10 actors, who have come out in interviews to tell their fans how little they enjoyed their time in Friends.
10. Tate Donovan
You might remember Donovan as Joshua, Rachel’s fleeting love interest in Season 4. In real life, however, Donovan and Anniston were just calling it quits and used the show as a way to cope with their transition from couple to friends. It didn’t go as planned, and Donovan recalls the event as “heartbreaking.”
9. Kathleen Turner
Turner played one of the show’s most controversial characters: Chandler’s post-transition father, Helena Handbasket. Turner later commented on how she didn’t like working on the Friends set, as she would not feel welcomed by the tight-knit cast.
8. Jennifer Grey
Grey played Mindy, Rachel Green’s maid-of-honor and former best friend, in the show’s first season. She was set to return to Friends, but was ultimately replaced after she said working on the show was very anxiety-provoking.
7. Fisher Stevens
While Stevens doesn’t regret his cameo, he laments the way he behaved on set. He says he behaved rudely, mostly due to being nervous or inexperienced with the sitcom format.
6. Paul Rudd
Rudd became an integral part of the show in its final episodes, but the Ant-Man star says he sometimes felt like a “prop,” saying that his character seemed a bit tacked on in the finale.
5. John Stamos
The Full House lead had a minor role as a sperm donor in a Season 9 episode. He expected cheers from the live audience, but was discouraged when he was received by a deafening silence instead. The experience “embarrassed” the veteran sitcom lead, souring his brief stint in the legendary show.
4. Olivia Williams
The actress recalls the process of joining Friends as “harrowing”. According to Williams, the producers wanted to alter everything about her looks to make her fit better under the Friends umbrella, and she recalls the experience as being an extremely stressful one.
3. Brooke Shields
Married to tennis player Andre Agassi at the time of her Friends cameo, the actress recalls how much the athlete loathed that her character had to flirt with Joey constantly. According to Shields, Agassi reportedly smashed trophies in a fit of rage after seeing her cameo.
2. Elle Macpherson
Macpherson played Janine Lacroix, Joey’s roommate, for five episodes. While the actress recognizes the opportunity of guest-starring in a show like Friends, she says she would have never done it if she knew just how big the series would get in its later seasons.
1. Jean-Claude Van Damme
If you ask the Friends cast, Jean-Claude Van Damme is one of the worst guest stars the show had, with rumors of inappropriate behavior casting a dark shadow over his cameo. If you ask Van Damme, however, he also didn’t enjoy his time at Friends, saying he felt like a “ham” in a show that didn’t respect him at all.
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