The Undercover Feuds On The Set Of Friends

1. Matthew Perry Was Secretly Frustrated By His Co-Stars

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Could there be something behind Matthew Perry's failure to turn up to one of the first Friends reunions in 2016? The gang reunited to celebrate the work of James Burrows, but there was a notable empty spot on the sofa. In fact, while filming the series in the late '90s, Matthew Perry was apparently frustrated at how his cast-mates reacted to his addiction problems. He told OK! Magazine: “[Perry] didn’t feel like any of them supported him, and it was a bitter reminder of how much he suffered back when they were shooting the show.”

2. Someone Didn't Like Joey

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The Matthew Perry feud might go deeper, though. After Friends ended in 2004, the gang split up, each going onto new projects - but not Matt LeBlanc. He landed a role in the Friends spin off, Joey

, which started the same year that Friends ended. According to Hollywood sources, Matthew Perry was annoyed that LeBlanc went behind the cast's back to get a new part as Joey Tribbiani.

3. The Cast Versus The Producers

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While cast relations weren't always on good terms, things were worse between the main Friends

cast and the producers of the show. Apparently, the entire cast showed up to give a talking down to the co-creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman after they gave the go-ahead to the plotline involving a romance between Rachel and Joey. "It felt wildly inappropriate. That's how close we all were to the character,"

Matt LeBlanc explained. "We went to David and Marta as a group and said, ‘We’re really concerned about this. It doesn’t feel right. We have a problem with it.'"

4. The Cast Had Reservations About Matt LeBlanc

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From the early days of the show, Matt LeBlanc was causing a bit of a rift in the cast. Some background for context: Matt LeBlanc came from a humble background, with an office-worker mom and a mechanic dad. He didn't have much professional acting experience apart from a few bit parts and small roles. His other experience came from modelling and appearing in Bon Jovi music videos - and apparently some of the other cast were "nervous" about working with Matt.

5. And Jennifer Aniston Got Bad Vibes From Him Too

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One of those cast members that got bad vibes from Matt LeBlanc - before anyone had even stepped foot on the set - was Jennifer Aniston. She admitted later on that she thought Matt was too macho to appear as Joey and said,"I was scared of that type of guy."

We bet that first table read with the whole cast didn't go too well, then.

6. Lisa Kudrow Thought She Was Going To Be Fired

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Lisa Kudrow also didn't have a good time with the producers on Friends

, and this might have caused some awkwardness. Before Friends

, Lisa was meant to star in Frasier

, but she was fired by the director during rehearsals. And who ended up being the director on Friends

? The same guy who fired her, James Burrows. According to Lisa, James would badmouth her in the first week, saying "Why are they friends with her? We have to figure that out. She doesn't fit."

Yikes!

7. Fighting For Dollars

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The cast also had to get real with the producers about their pay on the show. Initially, the cast were getting $22,500 per episode each, but as the popularity of the show grew, and the cast became true stars, they had to ask for more. And they couldn't have succeeded without David Schwimmer, who suggested that they all go to the producers together as a united front. It worked, and the group ended up getting $1 million per episode.

8. This Guest Actress Had An Awful Time

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Kathleen Turner guest starred in Friends as Chandler Bing's father Charles Bing (who almost always appeared on screen as a drag queen called Helena and was later revealed to be a trans woman. But that's another story!) But Kathleen didn't have a great time on set, receiving a less-than-friendly reaction from the main cast. "I remember I was wearing this difficult sequined gown — and my high heels were absolutely killing me I found it odd that none of the actors thought to offer me a seat. The Friends actors were such a clique,"

she said.

9. David Schwimmer Hated One Co-Star

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But it's probably not the person you're thinking of. In fact, David Schwimmer had a well-known feud with none other than Marcel, Ross' pet monkey. According to Matt LeBlanc, David hated every time he had a scene with the monkey actor. "I like animals, and the monkey was really cool. Schwimmer, not so much. He was like, 'Again with the monkey?'"

10. This Episode Destroyed a Relationship

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We bet you didn't know this about one guest star on Friends

. Superstar model and actress Brooke Shields had a small cameo in 'The One After the Superbowl: Part 1', and it ended up being the beginning of the end for her relationship with boyfriend Andre Agassi. He was there during the taping, and apparently stormed off set saying she "made him look like a fool." Later, he drove home and smashed his apartment up - totally not an overreaction.

11. A Painful Interaction Between Co-Stars

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Everyone remembers Paul Rudd appearing as Phoebe's husband on Friends. He was a series regular, but almost got off on the wrong foot (pun intended) with his cast mates. At the time, Jennifer Aniston was nursing a foot injury, but Paul Rudd managed to run over her with a Segway. Ouch!

12. One Guest Star Caused Beef

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It's natural for cast members to clash with their guest actors. They're only there for a short time, they might not know how the production works, they have limited time to build chemistry. But according to Jennifer Aniston, one guest star was worse than all the others. The star apparently found fault with the way producers would rewatch recordings and laugh. “This person was like, ‘Listen to them, just laughing at their own jokes. So stupid, not even funny,’”

the actor said. “It was just like, ‘What are you doing here? Your attitude—this is not what we’re all about.’”

We wonder who this was?

13. Jean-Claude Van Damme Rubbed Everyone The Wrong Way

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One likely answer to the above mystery is that the guest star was none other than Jean-Claude Van Damme. He made things awkward with both Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox during a kiss scene for the show. Apparently, Jennifer asked if Jean-Claude could not use tongue when filming the kissing scenes - and he totally ignored her. It happened the day after with Courteney. Unbelievable.

14. Did Matthew Perry Fight Matt LeBlanc?

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That possible feud we mentioned between Matthew Perry and Matt LeBlanc? Yeah, that almost came to blows. Speaking in a 2015 interview, Matt LeBlanc's dad Paul LeBlanc suggested that his son thought Matthew Perry was an 'a*****e,' and wanted to fight him during breaks from filming.

15. The One With The Duck

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It's not just David Schwimmer who took issue with some of the animal guest actors on the Friends

set. One episode with a chicken and a duck also caused problems for Lisa Kudrow. Apparently, Lisa was quite afraid of the duck, and hated filming with the animals, despite them being crucial for the episode.

16. Nobody Liked Courteney At First

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When Courteney Cox joined the cast of Friends, she was without a doubt the most famous of the core cast members. She had starred on an episode on Seinfeld and appeared alongside Jim Carey in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. And her fame caused some problems. David Schwimmer said she made everyone nervous, and it took time for that chemistry between everyone to come together.

17. Feelings Almost Got The Best Of These Two

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The chemistry between Ross and Rachel on screen was absolutely palpable - and that's because there was also tension between David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston. Years later, David admitted that he had a "major crush" on her during the first season, adding, "At some point we were both crushing hard on each other, but it was like two ships passing because one of us was always in a relationship and we never crossed that boundary."

We imagine that tension probably led to some awkward conversations between the actors and their other halves.

18. Did Brad Pitt Ruin The Final Season?

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Think back to the early 00s. Consider the power couples of that era. One of those couples was undoubtedly Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt, who were married from 2000 to 2005. If you can remember, Friends finished in 2004, and apparently Brad Pitt had something to do with that season ending early. He was so angry that Jennifer was doing another season that she was forced to ask producers to cut the final season to only 18 episodes.

19. Matthew Perry Caused Tensions

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Matthew Perry struggled with addiction and alcoholism during the filming of Friends

, though you wouldn't have known it from his performance. But apparently, it got so bad that he doesn't remember filming three whole seasons of the show and routinely turned up to filming hungover. This caused tensions with the rest of the cast, who didn't know how to talk to Matthew about his problem. Lisa Kudrow admitted, "[the cast were] just hopelessly standing on the sidelines. We were hurting a lot."

20. Jennifer Aniston Acted Through a Breakup - With Her Cast Mate

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Do you remember the character Joshua Burgin? He appeared as Rachel's love interest in season 4 of friends - and there's a story behind that. In fact, Jennifer and Tate Donovan, who played Joshua, had just broke up, and that caused some tension on set. Speaking about being on the show, Tate said, "It was so dumb. I was young and genuinely thought it would help, but there were times I’d just finish a scene and go sob in my trailer.”

21. Everyone Hated This Guest Actor

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Fisher Stevens also guest starred on

Friends

, and like other guest actors, didn't get on well with the main cast. Fisher admitted that he hadn't even heard of Friends when he got the part on the episode 'The One with the Boobies' in 1995. “Yeah, I was a d**k. I’ve rarely seen any of those people on Friends again, but I’m sure if you asked them about me, they would go, ‘What a New York snob,'"

he says.

22. That Paul Rudd Feud Might Go Deeper

 

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We're not done with the apparent feud between Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston. After showing up to set on the first day and running over Jennifer with a Segway (ouch!), things never really got better between Paul and Jennifer. According to a source, Paul didn't attend the Friends reunion in 2021 (despite playing a pretty important character in the show) was because he fell out with Jennifer.

23. Don't Be Late On Set!

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Jennifer Aniston may have come onto Friends

as a relatively unknown actor with a pretty disappointing career so far, but she quickly made a name for herself. Not with her acting abilities (she did excel as Rachel) but for her tardiness. Apparently, David Schwimmer had to have a sit down with her about how she was always late to set, and Lisa Kudrow later schooled Jennifer on the same problem.

24. Matthew Perry Was Desperate For Laughs

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Matthew Perry was certainly going through a tough time during the filming of Friends

. And his state of mind fed through to the way he behaved on set, which might have annoyed his co stars. Matthew admitted that "I felt like I was going to die if they didn’t laugh. I would sometimes say a line and they wouldn’t laugh and I would sweat and just go into convulsions if I didn’t get the laugh I was supposed to get. I would freak out." 

25. This Feud Lasts To This Day

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As well as apparently having a lasting feud with Paul Rudd, Jennifer Aniston also isn't very chummy with another of her costars to this day. There are rumours that the two may have had an affair while filming Friends (when Jen was with Brad Pitt, no less). But apparently Matt also saw Jen as "snobby and above it all."

26. Producers Refused a Reunion

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We all watched the Friends reunion on HBO in 2021, but apparently the cast wanted something more: an actual reboot of Friends. Jennifer Aniston even admitted, "Our producers wouldn’t want it, wouldn’t let us. Look, it’s not been without our desire to, because our fans have wanted it so much... But would we have loved to do something together? Yeah.”

It sounds like those conversations may have happened behind the scenes, but the cast were blocked by producers. Add that to the list of disagreements between producers and cast on Friends.

27. Jennifer Missed Some Friends From Her Wedding

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Jennifer is back in the list of feuds here because of some shocking missing names from her wedding. Jen invited her co-stars Lisa Kudrow and Courteney Cox to her wedding with Justin Theroux in 2015, but missed her male cast mates - shocker! Could this have had something to do with her ongoing disagreement with Matt LeBlanc? He responded by saying, "If she wanted me there, I would have been there."

Well, that says everything.

28. Did Unequal Pay Cause a Rift?

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We've already spoken about the pay concerns that the cast members had while working on Friends

- but there's a bigger story here. Apparently, while everyone earned the same amount per episode during season 1, for season 2 Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer started getting more than their costars. Could guilt be the reason that David started campaigning for a pay raise for the entire cast later on?

29. The No-Dating Rule Caused Controversy

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Now, although the cast members of Friends tried to be friends off screen as well, there was one thing they couldn't be: lovers. Matthew Perry has since said that they had an unwritten rule that they would never get with each other, and we reckon this probably caused problems, especially if the story of Jennifer Aniston and Matt LeBlanc hooking up is true. For the record, Courteney Cox says she doesn't remember a rule - so what actually happened on that set?

30. Brad Pitt's Guest Role Spelled Trouble

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Brad Pitt may be responsible for the ending of Friends, but his 2001 guest role on the show while dating Jennifer Aniston also caused more controversy. One journalist said Brad was one of the worst guest stars ever, saying, "Stilted reactions, overly exaggerated comedy, near-palpable self-consciousness – despite his cred as a film actor, Pitt knew he was out of his depth on a sitcom stage. After five minutes' viewing, the audience did, too."

How might Jen have reacted hearing this about her husband? Or maybe she was just as embarrassed about his bad performance, which can't have made things easy at home.