The core Friends cast may have been thick as thieves, but their slew of famous guest stars have included some absolute jackasses, apparently, and in a recent interview, Jennifer Aniston spilled the tea on one of them.
During an appearance on SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show, the actress said “it was as if they were just too above this… to be on a sitcom.”
She recalled how the network and producers would laugh during a network run-through, and apparently the unnamed bloke took issue with this.
“This person was like, ‘Listen to them, just laughing at their own jokes. So stupid, not even funny,’” she reenacted. “It was just like, ‘What are you doing here? Your attitude—this is not what we’re all about.’”
She added, “This is a wonderful, warm place to be, and you’re coming into our home and just shitting on it.”
Because the IRL Rachel refused to divulge who that guest star was, sending the internet into a flurry, let’s go back and analyse all the actors who reportedly had beef with the Friends cast to narrow down the list of suspects.
Jean-Claude Van Damme
The famous actor played a famous actor (go figure) on the second season of the show and apparently he clashed with both Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox.
Friends director Michael Lembeck told The Hollywood Reporter, that the actor had kissing scenes with Aniston and Cox that never made it on air because he was an absolute fucking creep about it.
“We shoot him and Jennifer first,” Lembeck recalled. “Then she walks over to me and says, ‘Lem, Lem, would you do me a favour and ask him not to put his tongue in my mouth when he’s kissing me?’
“I tell him everything is great but it’s a tight shot so maybe let’s not do that.”
Then the next day, when shooting a similar scene with the IRL Monica, Van Damme ignored the request and did it again.
“Then we’re shooting a scene later with Courteney. Here comes Courtney walking toward me and saying, ‘Lem, can you please tell him not to put his tongue in my mouth?’ I couldn’t believe it. I had to tell him again, but a little firmer.”
No fucking bueno, Jean-Claude. Defo could be him.
Fisher Stevens
A lot of people have also guessed Fisher Stevens, who played Phoebe’s psychiatrist BF, and famously feuded with the cast.
The actor recently admitted in an episode of PeopleTV’s “Couch Surfing that he was an “asshole” on set to the actors and crew.
“I had never heard of Friends because it was just the beginning of the show and I didn’t watch TV at the time much,” he remembered.
“I was kind of an asshole, I have to admit,” he said, explaining that he was ticked off because of last minute script changes. “‘What do you mean? So I have to relearn lines that you’ve written that are worse than what you’d originally written?’” he remembered thinking.
And here’s the kicker: he said he’s certain that if you were to ask any of the Friends cast about him, they’d FOR SURE say he’s “a dick.”
“Yeah, I was a dick. I’ve rarely seen any of those people on Friends again, but I’m sure if you asked them about me, they would go, ‘What a New York snob.’”
A definite contender, then. Particularly since the issue Jennifer Aniston raised involved a tableread.
Paul Rudd
I know Paul Rudd is a shining angel sent down from heaven, but according to the radio hosts over at Cincinnati, he recently had a falling out with Jennifer Aniston, which is why he wasn’t at the Friends Reunion.
That being said, Jennifer Aniston recently shared a birthday tribute to him on Instagram, so either she’s gotten over it, or this simply never happened. And either way, who’s gonna go on the radio and bitch about darling Paul Rudd? No one, that’s who.
He’s a less likely candidate, TBH.
Bruce Willis
The star behind Die Hard (a.k.a. Joey and Chandler’s favourite movie) begrudgingly starred on Friends for free after losing a bet with Matthew Perry while filming The Whole Nine Yards.
Considering his free appearance involved a multi-episode arc, one in which he had to sob uncontrollably and the other where he had to do a sexy dance, he very well could’ve been salty at the tableread.
Tate Donovan
You’ll recognise this guy as Jimmy Cooper from The OC but also as Rachel’s client turned boyfriend turned ex on Friends. But as they say, the truth is stranger and fiction and apparently Jennifer Aniston and Tate Donovan actually did date before he starred on the show and their messy split made filming the show v. awks.
Speaking to news.com.au, he said he had hoped that appearing on the show would help them mend their relationship, but it absolutely did not.
“It was so dumb,” he said of agreeing to star on his ex’s show. “Just a bone-headed move. I was young and genuinely thought it would help, but there were times I’d just finish a scene and go sob in my trailer.”
Maybe Jennifer Aniston still has a bee in her bonnet about her ex showing up on-set and he was low-key arrogant because she wasn’t giving him the time of day?
Well, those are some theories for ya. Hopefully Jennifer Aniston will notice the online chatter and help us settle it soon.
Givvus the tea in one of those large Central Perk mugs pls, Jen.
Matty Galea is the Senior Entertainment Editor at Pedestrian who also dabbles in woo-woo stuff like astrology and crystals and has been penning horoscopes since the start of his career. He also Tweets about pop culture and astrology and posts spicy content on Instagram.
