Three decades after she waltzed into viewers’ lives as Rachel Green, discussing the legacy of Friends still hits Jennifer Aniston like a ton of bricks.
During a Variety Actors on Actors conversation between Aniston, 55, and Abbott Elementary creator and star Quinta Brunson, a producer offscreen suggested Brunson, 34, ask Aniston about what it’s like to watch Friends all these years later.
“Oh, God, don’t make me cry,” Aniston said, already getting choked up.
“I won’t,” Brunson said. “We won’t make each other cry.”
The floodgates, however, were already open. “You’re already crying,” Brunson noted. “Do you want a minute? We don’t have to talk about …”
Aniston raised her head to the ceiling and said, “Sorry, I just started thinking about …”
A visibly emotional Aniston called them “happy tears” before she grabbed a tissue, dabbed her eyes and continued the chat.
When they resumed, Brunson asked Aniston about the upcoming 30th anniversary of the Friends premiere, which aired on September 22, 1994.
“It’s so strange to think that it’s even 30 years old,” Aniston said. “I remember the day it was going to premiere on television, on NBC.”
As it turns out, premiere day was filled with memorable hijinks with her soon-to-be household name castmates.
“Me and Matthew Perry were having lunch somewhere and we knew Lisa [Kudrow] was getting her hair colored,” Aniston continued. “So we ran into the hair salon. I snuck up and she was in the sink, the hair bowl, and I took the nozzle and just started washing her hair from the guy that was supposed to be doing it. It definitely flew out of control and that was unfortunate.”
The prank, Aniston explained, still lives so fresh in her mind because it doesn’t feel like much time has passed at all.
“It feels like yesterday,” Aniston said. “The fact that it’s had this long, wonderful life and it still means a lot to people is one of the greatest gifts all six of us … we never could imagine.”
The legacy of the show has been made even more impactful given the fact that the Friends are still actually friends — especially in the tragic aftermath of Perry’s death in October 2023.
“We still talk to each other,” Aniston gushed. “I talked on FaceTime with Court[eney] Cox last night for, like, an hour. And Lisa and the boys. It’s a family forever.”
