Jennifer Aniston‘s Rachel Green had an unforgettable friend group on TV, but even the Central Perk crew may not have had bonds as strong as Jen’s real-life relationship with her Friends costars.
As the star celebrates her 56th birthday on Tuesday, February 11, it’s perfect timing to look back on the real relationships behind one of the most successful sitcoms in TV history. It’s been 21 years since Friends finished its iconic run, but Aniston’s relationships with her costars are still as fascinating for fans of the NBC show as her love life. From milestone celebrations to personal tragedies, the cast of Friends are seemingly still a part of Aniston’s life in a very meaningful way.
Keep scrolling to look back at what all of the main Friends cast members have said about Aniston on and off screen over the years.
Courteney Cox
Cox and Aniston were one of TV’s funniest comedy duos in Friends and it’s clear that Monica Geller and Rachel Green’s interplay was rooted in the deep affection that the two actresses had for one another away from the cameras.
The pair send one another thoughtful birthday messages on social media every year, like when Cox wrote to Aniston on Instagram in 2020: “No matter how hard you might try… there’s only one Jennifer Aniston. Happy birthday my dear friend.”
In February 2024, Cox shared a vintage Friends clip from the season two episode “The One Where Heckles Dies,” where their TV alter egos get into a huge argument over Monica breaking Rachel’s seashell lamp. A downtrodden Rachel has some sad news for Chandler, telling him: “Hey, Chandler. Monica just broke my seashell lamp.”
“Not sure why this is one of my favorite clips… I guess it’s because nobody else in the world could make this line sound so cute,” Cox wrote via Instagram. “Happy Birthday my sweet Jenny Louise. Also don’t know why I call her that…but I sure do love you.”
In turn, Aniston thanked Cox for being “fiercely loyal to the end” in her own birthday tribute to her Friends costar in June 2024.
Aniston wrote via Instagram: “Celebrating this powerful, magical, mystical, interesting, interested, ferociously talented girl today!!! My sweet CC @courteneycoxofficial… she’s funny like no other, STUNNING on the inside and out. Independent in the most gorgeous way, cares for everyone even if she doesn’t know you.”
Lisa Kudrow
Rachel’s friendship with the heartwarmingly kooky Phoebe Buffay didn’t always seem as deep and meaningful as her bond with Monica, but, much like Aniston and Kudrow off-camera, there’s never any doubt how much they care for each other.
Kudrow candidly admitted during a December 2024 interview on the “Armchair Expert” podcast that the Friends cast “really did get along” during the making of the show.
The Phoebe actress acknowledged that the cast’s “six-way relationship took some work and [they] did it.” Kudrow also mentioned learning from Cox and Aniston’s approach to disagreements.
“If someone said something or did something, it didn’t get too big, because it was, ‘Can I talk to you?’” Kudrow recalled, before adding: “I had to learn to [say], ‘Can I talk to you about something?’ because I never knew that was allowed but I saw it modeled really well by Courteney and Jennifer and Matt. Respectful communication.”
When Kudrow turned 60 in July 2023, Aniston called her former Friends castmate “one of [her] favorite people on the planet.”
“She’s been my friend and my family for nearly 30 incredible years. I cherish you…I love you, my sweet Floosh,” Aniston wrote via Instagram. “One of the most talented comedians/actors I’ve had the great honor to work with for all these glorious years and more to come.”
David Schwimmer
Aniston and Schwimmer have admitted to “crushing hard on each other” during Friends‘ original run, but, unlike their characters Rachel and Ross, they never actually dated.
Schwimmer revealed during the filming of Friends: The Reunion in 2021 that there were moments early in the sitcom’s run when they would “cuddle on the couch” between scenes.
During a Live With Kelly and Mark appearance in March 2023, Aniston said that it was “quite enjoyable” to film Rachel and Ross’ kisses with Schwimmer. She confessed to even once broaching the subject of a real-life romance with her costar.
“I remember saying one time to David, ‘It’s gonna be such a bummer if the first time you and I actually kiss is going to be on national television,’” she said in Friends: The Reunion. “Sure enough, the first time we kissed was in that coffee shop. We just channeled all of our adoration and love for each other into Ross and Rachel.”
In a 2003 TV special commemorating the end of Friends, Schwimmer pointed to his bond with Aniston as one of the most important in his life.
“Jen, she amazes me. Also, [a] very generous, warm, warm person. Just always puts the other person first and I think it’s a gift,” he said.
In that same 2003 special, Aniston acknowledged that the two had “a lot of history,” in addition to praising how helpful Schwimmer was during the filming process.
“[He’s] really smart and helps me figure out things that I don’t understand. … I can be really honest with David and speak my mind, and I really appreciate you letting me do that,” Aniston told him.
Matt LeBlanc
While Rachel and Joey had an unexpected but lovely romance in the later seasons of Friends, LeBlanc was quoted as saying in the officially-licensed 2004 book Friends…Til’ the End that he actually had “a little crush” on Aniston during the show’s early seasons.
“I think the whole world did, too, so what are you going to do?” he declared at the time.
In more recent years, LeBlanc has suggested Aniston was more like his “little sister,” which was a different dynamic than he had with Cox and Kudrow.
“Courteney [Cox] and Lisa [Kudrow] are like my big sisters, but Jen’s like my little sister,” he told People in 2015. “Matthew’s like my little brother, and David’s [Schwimmer] like my big brother. That’s how it all broke down. And it’s literally just like chronological.”
Aniston offered a unique birthday wish for LeBlanc when he turned 57 in July 2024, writing via Instagram: “I hope you’re doing so much nothing today. LOVE YOU.”
Her joke referenced LeBlanc’s 2017 appearance on Conan where the actor expressed a desire to retire from acting.
“I would like to retire earlier than later, because I think I would like to do not a f— thing. That’s what I would like to do. Just nothing. Nothing! Zero,” LeBlanc quipped.
Matthew Perry
Much like Schwimmer and LeBlanc, Perry confessed to having a crush on Aniston during their Friends heyday.
“Eventually, my crush dissipated,” he told Sirius XM Radio in 2022. “At first, she’d walked in… and I’d just go to my dressing room and [swoon]. ‘I’ll never be able to be with her.’ But how can you not have a crush on Jennifer Aniston?”
The late Perry singled out Aniston in an October 2022 interview with Diane Sawyer for continuing to check in with him throughout his struggle with addiction.
“She was the one that reached out the most. You know, I’m really grateful to her for that,” he said.
In that same interview, Perry remembered that Aniston tried reaching out to him in a dark period during Friends‘ production.
“Imagine how scary a moment that was,” Perry conceded, later pointing out: “I should have been the toast of the town, but I was in a dark room meeting with nothing but drug dealers and completely alone.”
When Perry died tragically at age 54 from the acute effects of ketamine use in October 2023, Aniston wrote via Instagram that she’d felt “an insane wave of emotions that [she’d] never experienced before.”
“We all experience loss at some point in our lives,” she began. “Loss of life or loss of love. Being able to really SIT in this grief allows you to feel the moments of joy and gratitude for having loved someone that deep. And we loved him deeply. He was such a part of our DNA. We were always the 6 of us. This was a chosen family that forever changed the course of who we were and what our path was going to be.”
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