In a brand new interview, Jennifer Aniston has opened up about how she had to walk out of the massive Friends reunion after being painfully reminded of the “hardest time” in her life.
Sitting down with The Hollywood Reporter, Aniston reflected on her time filming the Friends reunion 17 years after the popular sitcom wrapped.
According to Aniston, she had to walk out of the special after being confronted with memories of the way her life was at the time.
“Time travel is hard,” she said.
“I think we were just so naive walking into it, thinking, ‘How fun is this going to be? They’re putting the sets back together, exactly as they were.’ Then you get there and it’s like, ‘Oh right, I hadn’t thought about what was going on the last time I was actually here.’
“And it just took me by surprise because it was like, ‘Hi, past, remember me? Remember how that sucked? You thought everything was in front of you and life was going to be just gorgeous and then you went through maybe the hardest time in your life?’”
“It was all very jarring and, of course, you’ve got cameras everywhere and I’m already a little emotionally accessible, I guess you could say, so I had to walk out at certain points. I don’t know how they cut around it.”
Oof. I can only imagine what walking back into the setting of your 20’s would feel like for someone who has already lived through them. Nobody wants to go back there.
When questioned by The Hollywood Reporter about what it was in this time that the actor found so confronting, Jennifer Aniston opened up about her life during the filming of Friends a bit more.
“It was more personal stuff that I had expectations about that sort of shape-shifted, so to speak,” she said.
“That was what was jarring, that we all had an idea of what the future was going to be and we were going to go hunker down and focus on this or that and then it all just changed overnight, and that was it.
“But again, everything’s a blessing if you’re able to look at life’s ups and downs in that way. And if it all hadn’t happened, I would not be sitting here the woman that I am.”
“Is it a sliver of an annoyance to have to publicly go through dark shit in front of the world? Yes, it’s an inconvenience, but it’s all relative,” she continued.
“So, I had a choice to make: Either I’m going to surrender into bonbons and living under my covers or I’m going to go out there and find a creative outlet and thrive, and that’s what I did.”
And we’re so glad she did — the Friends Reunion slapped, and Friends (arguably) still holds up to this day.
You can rewatch the Friends Reunion on BINGE now if you’re down for some heartwarming feels.
