How did Courteney Cox’s real life mirror Monica’s struggles?
What made Lisa Kudrow hate her role in Friends?
And why didn’t Jennifer Aniston talk to her mother for 15 years?
Hi, I’m Janet.
Let’s find out!
Courteney Cox's Life Reflected Her Character's Monica had always wanted to have a child.
As Chandler once said, she was already a mother but without a baby.
Courteney knew exactly how to play this struggle in her character’s life, because she had
faced a similar problem for years.
The only thing is, the actress’s issue wasn’t getting pregnant.
It was carrying the baby to full-term.
Throughout the series, Cox had as many as SEVEN miscarriages!
The hardest one happened when they were filming the episodes where Rachel was giving birth
to Emma.
“Oh my God, it was terrible having to be funny,” the actress commented on that time.
Yeah, it’s hard to imagine how she felt!
It later turned out that Cox had an autoimmune disorder that causes blood clotting and pregnancy
loss.
But, despite all the losses, Courteney's dream finally came true.
In 2004, with the help of in vitro fertilization, she finally gave birth to her daughter, Coco.
And in fact, Coco even featured a bit in the Friends series while she was still in her
mom’s belly.
If you look carefully, you can spot Courteney’s growing bump in the finale.
Obviously, Cox was thrilled when she finally gave birth to her baby girl.
These days, the mom and daughter share a close bond,
and Coco’s godmother is Jennifer Aniston herself.
She’s one lucky gal, isn’t she?
Matthew Perry Doesn’t Remember Three Years of Friends
While his on-screen wife was struggling with fertility issues, the actor had his own troubles.
Chandler was the funniest of all the Friends and many fans favorite character.
So it makes it all the more surprising to learn that, after making everyone laugh on
the set, Matthew would go home and hit the bottle.
He did it for years.
At some point, his addiction became so strong that he stopped realizing where he was and
what he was doing.
Even these days, Perry still feels the vestiges of that time because he can’t even recall
how he did the show.
“I don’t remember three years of it,” he admitted in an interview.
“I was a little out of it at the time — somewhere between seasons three and six.”
Perry didn’t become addicted on a whim.
After a Jet Ski accident, he got addicted to pills, and soon enough, booze joined the
formula.
The actor faced many issues when he was admitted to a hospital with inflammation of the pancreas
from alcohol abuse.
And later, when he crashed his Porsche into a house the day he was discharged.
Seeing Matthew’s struggle wasn’t easy for his co-stars.
He didn’t drink on the set, but he’d always come in hungover, sleepy and shaking.
They all loved him and wanted to help, but he wasn’t open to their help at that moment.
Later, Perry admitted: “I wasn’t ready to hear it.
You can’t tell anyone to get sober.
It has to come from you.”
Eventually, the actor realized that he had to stop, or else he’d lose his life.
He voluntarily entered rehab in 2001 and reportedly has been sober ever since.
Good for you, Matt!
Lisa Kudrow Hated Her Role…
Kind of Ah, you get scared way too easily!
I’m not talking about Phoebe but about her evil twin sister, Ursula.
Apparently, Lisa didn’t like shooting Ursula's scenes and made things even more difficult
for herself when she asked her sister Helena to stand in as her double in the scenes with
Ursula.
Here’s how the show’s executive producer Kevin S. Bright commented on it:
“I think feeling the stress she put her sister into by being the double was more in
her head at the time, so those scenes were a little bit tricky to shoot.”
Luckily for Kudrow, Ursula didn’t appear too often in the series, so it wasn’t that
big of an issue.
But she had other, more serious ones.
For example, for a large part of the series, Lisa struggled with body insecurity.
The actress once shared that she couldn’t watch herself on the screen because she felt
that she looked so big compared to Courteney and Jennifer.
“I was taller, bigger.
My bones feel bigger, I just felt like this mountain of a woman next to them,” she shared.
So to look more like her co-stars, Lisa would often follow a weight loss diet.
Everyone’s comments that she looked good motivated her to continue dieting, although
losing weight wasn’t easy.
“When I was too thin I was sick all the time, a cold, sinus infection, I was always
sick,” Kudrow admitted.
Luckily, over time, the actress learned to accept herself as she was and have a positive
outlook on her body image.
That’s a great example we should all follow!
Matt LeBlanc Went Through a Few Dark Periods Being rich and famous might be a dream for
many people, but actually, it can’t give you happiness.
The Joey actor learned that the hard way.
Being propelled into the spotlight brought many challenges into his life.
At the height of the show’s fame, and even after it was over, there was a point when
Matt wouldn’t even leave his house because he felt completely burned out.
“It was a very dark time.
I almost had a nervous breakdown,” he commented.
To make things worse, the actor’s personal life was also not so good.
His little daughter Marina was diagnosed with cortical dysplasia, a condition that affects
the brain, bones, and motor skills.
She was less than a year old at the time.
Doctors told LeBlanc that, as a result, walking and talking would be a challenge for his daughter.
This was another dark period in the actor’s life.
And, combined with some other issues he and his wife were having, such as infidelity rumors,
it all took a toll on Matt’s marriage.
So he and his wife, model Melissa McKnight, got divorced shortly after the diagnosis.
Luckily, their separation was amicable.
Matt and Melissa have joint custody of Marina, who eventually outgrew her ailment.
And even these days, LeBlanc stays away from the spotlight and enjoys being with his daughter.
“Spending time with her is the best thing I’ve ever done.
We have a great bond and it’s the best thing in my life,” the actor said.
Well, isn’t he sweet?
David Schwimmer Turned into a Recluse Becoming famous wasn’t easy for him either.
Even when he was still playing Ross, he didn’t like to stand out and preferred to hide in
the background.
Here’s how David explained his feelings: “As an actor, the way I was trained, my
job was to observe life and to observe other people.
The effect of celebrity was the absolute opposite.”
So Schwimmer would often just wear a baseball cap so that no one would notice him.
In his own words, he had to learn how to be invisible.
Unable to deal with the sudden fame, David soon started experiencing problems in communication
with his friends.
“It was pretty jarring and messed with my relationship to other people in a way that
took years, I think, for me to kind of adjust to and be comfortable with,” the actor shared.
Fortunately, David eventually managed to find a balance.
And, just like LeBlanc, he prefers to stay out of the spotlight.
He didn’t take on many roles in popular projects.
Mostly, Schwimmer took to the stage.
He performs in front of smaller audiences in New York and London.
And he also prefers to work behind the camera.
David directed quite a few Friends episodes, and his movie directorial debut was Run Fatboy
Run in 2007.
Well, we’ll see what happens next to this talented man!
Jennifer Aniston’s Mom and Husband Gave Her a Hard Time
One of the challenges she faced was, of course, her famous Rachel haircut that everyone loved,
but she hated and considered the ugliest hairdo ever.
But the actress had other issues, as well.
For example, for a few episodes, Aniston had to star alongside her ex-boyfriend, Tate Donovan,
who played Rachel’s sweetheart Joshua.
According to the actress, it was quite painful and tough for both of them to play a couple
because their breakup wounds weren’t yet healed.
And, at the same time, Jen was having other troubles, as well.
For most of her Friends fame, Aniston was in a feud with her mother, Nancy Dow, who
was also an actress.
“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,” Jennifer said to The
Hollywood Reporter.
I mean, WHAT?
Jennifer Aniston doesn’t think she’s gorgeous??
That’s nonsense!
Anyway, their relationship got even worse when Jen’s mother published a memoir titled
From Mother and Daughter to Friends in 1999.
Dow’s revelations were published against Jen’s wishes, and it upset her very much.
Overall, they didn’t communicate for over 15 years and reconciled just before Nancy’s
death in 2016.
The rift between the mother and daughter had been so strong that Jennifer didn’t even
invite her to her wedding to Brad Pitt.
Speaking of Brad…
You might know that Aniston initially didn’t want to be in the 10th season of Friends.
And there are rumors that it was because she and Brad wanted to start a family at the time.
According to one of the versions of this story, Jennifer wanted to keep her husband happy
and almost quit the show to focus on their relationship.
She eventually agreed to be in the final season, but it had to be cut down to only 18 episodes.
Unfortunately, it didn’t help Jen save her marriage, as we all know what happened next
with her and Brad.
But it’s all in the past, and, hopefully, it was for the best.
If you liked this video, watch another one we made about the upcoming Friends reunion
special episode.
And stay OSSA’m!