Jean-Claude Van Damme is back in the headlines this week, with Prime Video confirming a sequel to Le Jardinier, his 2025 French action-comedy hit alongside Michaël Youn. But decades before he was dodging assassins in a political thriller, the “Muscles from Brussels” was reportedly making his Friends co-stars deeply uncomfortable on the set of one of the most-watched episodes in the show’s history.
As one of the most iconic series in TV history, Friends boasts many memorable episodes, but one stands out as the highest-rated, and surprisingly, it’s not the 2004 series finale. The episode in question is “The One After the Superbowl,” which remains the most-watched Super Bowl lead-out show to date. However, some Friends cast members were less than thrilled with Jean-Claude Van Damme’s behaviour during filming.
Inside Friends‘ Most-Watched Super Bowl Episode Ever
In this episode, Rachel and Monica vie for a chance to date the infamous Jean-Claude Van Damme, who plays himself (of course). Meanwhile, Phoebe is her adorable yet inappropriate self, and Joey falls head over heels for a crazed fan, played by Brooke Shields. Chandler attempts to chat up a former classmate, portrayed by Julia Roberts, who has her own mission for revenge. Finally, Ross is reunited with his beloved pet monkey, Marcel.
The hourlong Friends special wasn’t planned from the start. NBC executives were trying to decide which show would take the slot after the most popular event on the TV calendar. NBC Entertainment president at the time, Warren Littlefield, said that they had to flip the script and decided to “give the people what they want”.
Although the episode was a hit with viewers, the writers, directors, and stars of the show had many complaints about Jean-Claude Van Damme’s behaviour on set.
Why Directors Kept Warning Van Damme About His Behaviour
After the infamous reunion aired on Netflix, directors, creators, and some guest stars got together for an interview and discussed many influential things in the show. They particularly remembered the Super Bowl episode. While they talked about the many stars that appeared in the episode, a few interviewees agreed that JCVD was a difficult actor to work with. Littlefield even joked that he didn’t know who was more inappropriate between him and the monkey who starred as Marcel.
The entire filming day was thrown out of whack because Jean-Claude Van Damme arrived on the set of Friends “three or four hours” late, leading to Michael Lembeck, one of the directors on the episode, saying that he was unprepared and arrogant. Lembeck noted that Jennifer Aniston (Rachel Green) and Courteney Cox (Monica Geller), who played Van Damme’s love interests in the episode, complained about his unnecessary behaviour and asked the director to intervene.
What Really Happened During Van Damme’s Kissing Scenes With Aniston And Cox
The team shot Jennifer Aniston’s scene with Jean-Claude first. Afterwards, she asked the director to speak with “The Muscles from Brussels,” saying, “Could you please ask him not to put his tongue in my mouth when kissing me?”
Lembeck did speak to Van Damme about it. However, after filming Cox’s scene, she also asked, “Lem, can you tell him not to put his tongue in my mouth?”
The director was mortified that he had to ask the Belgian martial artist again to respect the ladies’ requests.
While I’m sure many people would faint at the chance of getting a kiss from Jean-Claude Van Damme, it’s sad to think he had to be asked so many times to respect the Friends actresses’ requests.
Kevin Bright, another director on the episode, confirmed that “we asked him several times.”
Where Is Jean-Claude Van Damme Now?
Van Damme, now 65, hasn’t slowed down since his Friends cameo. Long before Universal Soldier and its many spin-offs, he was already building the action-star persona that got him cast in Friends in the first place, and he’s still cashing in on it today. He’s currently riding the success of Le Jardinier, a French political action-comedy that became one of Prime Video France’s bigger hits of 2025, and a sequel is now in the works with co-star Michaël Youn returning.
Fittingly, it’s not the only Van Damme moment having a resurgence in 2026 – several of his early-90s action films, including Lionheart, Double Impact, and Knock Off, have been getting fresh 4K restorations from MVD Rewind Collection as part of a broader wave of 90s action-movie nostalgia. Given that Van Damme’s Friends cameo landed squarely in that same era, it’s a reminder of just how far his “Muscles from Brussels” persona still reaches, on-set complaints and all.
What do you think about Jean-Claude Van Damme and his female co-stars’ complaints on the set of Friends? Also read up about the rivalry between Jean-Claude Van Damme & Steven Seagal and a heated altercation at Sylvester Stallone’s soirée.
Where to watch the infamous “The One After the Superbowl” Friends (Season 2, Episodes 12 and 13) episodes:
