As everyone already knows, Friends was a massive success from the beginning to the end and the sitcom has remained beloved ever since it ended. With that in mind, most people would likely assume that every actor who was a part of the show at any point had an extremely positive experience with the show. After all, it seems very strange that an actor wouldn’t be overjoyed to be connected to a show that was so popular that it spawned an award-nominated reunion.
Sadly, the truth of the matter is that no matter how popular it will likely continue to be, at least one actor who appeared on Friends had to cope with some very serious drama as a result. On top of that, Friends fans are likely to be completely shocked that one of the people most closely associated with Friends wasn’t always on board with the show. After all, it turns out that at least of the Friends’ core six actors wanted to leave the show earlier than they did.
Jennifer Aniston Almost Left Friends
In the lead-up to Friends’ finale airing for the first time, the show’s stars unsurprisingly took part in a series of interviews about the much-anticipated television event. For example, the day before the Friends finale aired, Jennifer Aniston was interviewed by Matt Lauer. While there are several reasons why the interview was incredible, including the fact that for some reason Lauer asked Aniston “do you think you are sexy?”, one thing Jennifer said was especially fascinating.
At the end of the interview, Matt Lauer brings up Jennifer Aniston wanting to leave Friends a season earlier than she did. “Some people have said you were the one who needed convincing to come back for this.” After Aniston responded by asking where Lauer read that, Matt continued his line of inquiry. “Someone said that--that they actually came to you and you were not sure that you could do another year of this.” All jokes aside, Jennifer went on to admit that the rumors were true, Aniston wanted Friends to end after the ninth season.
“Yeah, sure. What the hell, yeah. That I was having, you know, I had a couple of issues that I was dealing with. I wanted it to end when people still loved us and we were on a high. And then I also felt--was feeling--like how much more of Rachel do I have in me? What more is there to-- what more--how many more stories are there to tell for all of us before we're just now pathetic?” “Still living across from each other in our shared bedrooms.”
Even though Jennifer Aniston admitted that Friends lasted longer than she wanted, she was still having a hard time with the beloved sitcom ending. “But I now, of course, I don't want it to end at all.” That said, Aniston wasn’t the only one who thought that the show lasted too long as some fans have written that Friends should have ended earlier online. On top of that, it is also important to note that if Aniston had stood her ground and refused to return for Friends’ tenth season, the show almost certainly wouldn’t have continued without her.
Jennifer Aniston’s Other Motivation In Life
While talking to Matt Lauer in the aforementioned interview, Jennifer Aniston made it clear that she believed it was time for Friends’ main characters to move on with their lives. Considering that those characters had all been so co-dependent throughout the show’s ten-year season, it is very hard to argue that Aniston was wrong in that belief. That said, looking back at Aniston’s career at the time that she considered turning down Friends’ tenth season, it certainly seems like something else may have motivated Jennifer as well.
Unlike Friends’ other five main stars, Jennifer Aniston has become one of the biggest movie stars of her generation. On top of that, at the time that Aniston had to decide whether or not to return for Friends’ final season, her movie career was really taking off. After all, by that time Aniston had already appeared in movies like Office Space and one of her most critically acclaimed films, The Good Girl. On top of that, the same year Friends’ ninth season aired, Aniston starred in Bruce Almighty.
Of course, leaving a hit show like Friends to work on a movie career has backfired for a long list of actors. Thankfully for Aniston and her millions of fans, Jennifer has gone on to continue being a highly popular and successful movie star ever since Friends ended. Despite that, there is still no way for regular Friends fans to know if her desire to be a movie star played a part in motivating Aniston’s desire for Friends to end.