They may have played the happiest BFFs on TV, but in real life, the cast members of
Friends haven't exactly had it easy.
We decided to look at some of the cast's darkest and weirdest secrets.
JENNIFER ANISTON WAS ESTRANGED FROM HER MOTHER
For well over a decade, Jennifer Aniston was estranged from her mother, Nancy Dow.
The reason?
In 1999, Dow published a tell-all book called From Mother and Daughter to Friends: A Memoir.
Although Aniston claimed in a 2015 interview with The Hollywood Reporter that she and Dow
are "all fine now," the Emmy-winner admitted things were pretty rough for awhile, especially
when she was growing up.
Aniston explained: "She was very critical of me.
Because she was a model, she was gorgeous, stunning.
I wasn't.
I never was.
I honestly still don't think of myself in that sort of light, which is fine.
She was also very unforgiving.
She would hold grudges that I just found so petty."
Dow divorced Aniston's father, Days of Our Lives star John Aniston, in 1980.
Meanwhile, Dow was not invited to her daughter's wedding to Brad Pitt in 2000, or her 2015
wedding to Justin Theroux.
JENNIFER ANISTON DIDN'T INVITE HALF THE CAST TO HER WEDDING
Also missing from the guest list for Aniston's surprise nuptials to Justin Theroux: half
the cast of Friends.
Just days after the news hit TMZ, it was revealed that Aniston's co-stars Matt LeBlanc, Matthew
Perry, and David Schwimmer didn't get invites.
LeBlanc told People: "I think she's happy.
And that's all I care about.
If she wanted me there, I would have been there."
Matthew Perry admitted to being "surprised" by the wedding news, saying, "It was a surprise
to me, as well.
I wasn't invited.
So what can you do?"
So much for being Friends.
MATTHEW PERRY BATTLED ADDICTION FOR YEARS
Matthew Perry has been open and honest about his struggles with substance abuse, which
sent him to rehab twice during the peak of Friends' success.
But the now-sober actor managed to shock us once again when he admitted to BBC2 Radio
in 2016 that his addictions caused him to forget filming three years of the show.
When asked to pick his least-favorite episode of Friends, his answer was, well, sobering:
"I think the answer is, I don't remember three years of it.
So none of those…somewhere between season three and six."
Perry had previously spoken to People magazine in 2013 about his addictions to alcohol and
pills, admitting at one point he "couldn't stop."
MATT LEBLANC HAD TWO DUIS
Speaking to the U.K.'s Telegraph in 2014, LeBlanc let it slip that he's been arrested
multiple times in the past for driving under the influence.
After discussing his character's DUI arrest in season three of Episodes, he revealed that
he'd gotten busted for driving under the influence twice.
He elaborated: "When I was young and stupid.
I wasn't driving fast, just crooked.
The press never got hold of the mugshots.
I was lucky."
For his sake, we hope TMZ didn't read that interview.
MATT LEBLANC SURPRISED HIS WIFE WITH A DIVORCE
In 2006, LeBlanc shocked everyone, including his wife Melissa, when he filed for divorce.
Sources for People magazine claimed at the time that Melissa was "absolutely blindsided"
by the divorce and had "hoped for a reconciliation."
That turned out to be impossible, though, because LeBlanc was already dating his Joey
co-star, Andrea Anders, as early as January.
According to People, some alleged that LeBlanc's relationship with Anders—whom he dated for
eight years until they split in 2015—was one of the causes of his divorce.
LeBlanc chose not to comment.
MATT LEBLANC ONCE GOT COZY WITH A STRIPPER
In a surprise twist of events, LeBlanc actually admitted during an interview in 2005 that
he had interacted with a "sexually aggressive" stripper while on a motorcycle road trip with
five of his friends in Canada.
He told The National Enquirer: "The stripper was all over me.
I was drinking, and she was crossing the line…When I realized the situation that was unfolding
I felt I was being careless and irresponsible, and I had to get the hell out of there."
Pretty sure that's been said by every guy in a relationship after getting a strip joint
lap dance...
COURTENEY COX MYSTERIOUSLY STOPPED PRODUCTION OF COUGAR TOWN
In November 2009, Courteney Cox unexpectedly halted production of her hit ABC sitcom, Cougar
Town, due to what her reps described at the time as a "private family matter."
The production hiatus lasted about a week.
To this day, the actual family matter was never actually revealed, which is pretty strange.
And speaking of strange …
COURTENEY COX'S DIVORCE FROM DAVID ARQUETTE WAS KIND OF WEIRD
Courteney Cox and David Arquette, who met on the set of the 1996 slasher movie Scream,
announced they were separating after 11 years of marriage in 2010.
Oddly enough, the couple didn't actually go through with filing for divorce until about
two and a half years later; the divorce was ultimately settled in June 2013.
The couple has since remained completely amicable and committed to raising their only daughter,
Coco.
That friendship might explain the delay.
Cox told More magazine in 2014: "In divorce you always have regret.
We were married for a long time, so it's not like we didn't try."
A happy divorce.
Who knew that was possible in Hollywood?
LISA KUDROW GOT SUED BY HER EX-MANAGER
In 2014, a jury found Lisa Kudrow in breach of contract after a lengthy legal dispute
with her former manager, Scott Howard.
He claimed Kudrow owed him residuals from when he still managed her—like, you know,
from all those reruns of Friends.
He first filed the suit in 2008, and after six miserable years, a jury ultimately ruled
in Howard's favor.
As a result, Kudrow had to fork over $1.6 million.
To be fair: that was only a little more than what she made for a single episode of Friends
in 2004.
But, still.
ouch.
DAVID SCHWIMMER PISSED OFF HIS NYC NEIGHBORS
Like Ross Gellar himself, David Schwimmer's personal life is—how do we put this lightly?—kind
of boring.
However, he did wind up upsetting a whole bunch of his neighbors when he decided to
demolish a preserved 1852 townhouse and build a new one completely from scratch.
His neighbors eventually got so annoyed with the construction that someone actually went
and spray-painted the words "Ross Is Not Cool" on a nearby fence.
Harsh, but also something all fans of Friends have been saying for decades.
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