Jennifer Aniston finds it "so strange" that 'Friends' is 30 years old.
Jennifer Aniston and Quinta Brunson (Mary Ellen Matthews for Variety)
The 55-year-old actress became a household name playing Rachel Green on the sitcom and she is amazed so much time has passed since the programme began because she can still remember the events of the day it premiered "like yesterday".
Speaking to Quinta Brunson for Variety's Actors on Actors series, she said: "It’s so strange to even think that it’s 30 years old.
"Because I remember the day that it was going to premiere on television, on NBC: Matthew Perry and I were having lunch somewhere, and we knew Lisa [Kudrow] was getting her hair coloured. So we ran into the hair salon, and I snuck up — she was in the sink — and I took the nozzle from the guy that was supposed to be doing it and just started washing her hair. It definitely flew out of control, and that was unfortunate. But the excitement we had, it feels like yesterday."
Jennifer - whose co-star Matthew Perry passed away last October - admitted she and her cast mates view the longevity of the show as one of the "greatest gifts" they could have ever had.
She added: "The fact that it’s had this long, wonderful life and it still means a lot to people is one of the greatest gifts I think all five of us — all six of us — we never could imagine.
"And we see each other. I talked on FaceTime with Court last night for an hour, and Lisa and the boys, and we just have a really — it’s a family forever."
And the cast now appreciate the "luxury" of getting famous at a time without social media so they were "protected" from other people's opinions.
Jennifer said: "It was in the ’90s and 2000s, and we had a luxury of there not being social media or the internet, so we were so isolated and protected. You weren’t faced with what people are commenting and ripping you apart or whatever.
"It was really an innocent time, where we could roam about the world a lot easier. But again, there weren’t phones. It’s not like hundreds of screens telling you what it is."
'Friends' was largely shot in front of a live audience, but Jennifer revealed co-star Lisa - who played Phoebe Buffay - got frustrated when they laughed.
She said: "Lisa Kudrow, by the way, hated when the audience laughed. She’d be like, 'I’m not done! It’s not that funny!' "
Read the full interview at https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/jennifer-aniston-quinta-brunson-friends-great-show-1236021050/
Tagged in Lisa Kudrow Matthew Perry