In many ways, it seems like Friends is more popular than ever before. Fans constantly stream their favorite episodes and keep online fan groups alive. Meanwhile, the upcoming Friends reunion special on HBO Max, which recently finished filming, promises to be a huge event.
It’s a good time to be a Friends fan and certainly a good time to be one of the cast members. But not everyone associated with the show remembers their time on it fondly.
In fact, some of Friends‘ most famous guest stars look back now and completely regret their appearances. Here are a few of the wilder stories about actors who later regretted guest-starring on Friends.
Reese Witherspoon
Reese Witherspoon memorably appeared in two episodes of Friends in 2000 as Rachel’s sister Jill.
In 2019, Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston appeared in a joint interview with AP Entertainment and discussed Witherspoon’s time on Friends. Aniston even praised her performance as “so good” and “flawless.”
Nonetheless, Witherspoon revealed she regretted her time on Friends so much she turned down the chance to appear in more episodes.
“Did you know they asked me back and I said I can’t do it?” Witherspoon said to a visibly shocked Aniston. “I was too scared. . . . I said ‘I’m too nervous.'”
What was so scary, though? The simple fact that Friends was filmed before a live studio audience. Despite her extensive acting experience, Witherspoon finds performing in front of a live audience “terrifying.”
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Brooke Shields
Sometimes, the guest stars don’t regret starring on Friends at first. Instead, those close to them make them regret it. And that was certainly the case with Brooke Shields.
In a 1996 episode, Shields played Erika, an unhinged character who is obsessed with Joey. There was just one problem: Shields was dating tennis star Andre Agassi at the time. Agassi was actually on set, and watching Shields interact with LeBlanc reportedly made him storm off in rage after a particularly risqué scene in which Shields licks LeBlanc’s fingers.
Shields dished in her 2014 memoir There Was a Little Girl: The Real Story of My Mother and Me that Agassi stormed off to Las Vegas in a rage. “‘Upon arrival he systematically smashed and destroyed every single trophy he had won, including Wimbledon and the US Open, never mind all the others.”
Agassi discussed his jealousy of the Friends scene in his own 2009 memoir Open. “Of course I’ve watched Brooke kiss men onstage before. . . . This is different. This is over the line,” he wrote.
They continued their relationship after her Friends appearance, and even got married in 1997, but perhaps unsurprisingly, Shields and Agassi split in 1999.
Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt is arguably the most famous guest star that Friends ever had. He played Will Colbert, a friend of Ross and Monica’s who joins them for Thanksgiving. At the time, he was married to Jennifer Aniston, making a guest appearance on the hit show seem like a natural fit.
But in 2019, Pitt opened up about some regrets regarding his role in an interview with Access. And while this portion of the interview was brief, it gave some interesting insight into how Pitt saw the show and its cast.
First, he praised the experience of working with such a “great cast.” But despite his own impressive acting chops, Pitt’s biggest regret about being on the show was his own performance.
He actually caused unwanted delays during the shoot by struggling with his lines. “I flubbed my first line. We had to stop and start again,” he revealed.
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Kathleen Turner
Kathleen Turner was one of the more surprising guest stars on Friends. In addition to her stature as an actor, what made her appearances so surprising was that she actually played Chandler’s dad in three episodes in 2001.
Looking back, you might think that what Turner regretted was her choice as a cisgender woman to play a transgender man, instead of letting the role go to a transgender actor. And in a 2019 appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Turner clarified she would not take such a role if it was offered today.
But in a 2018 interview with Vulture, Turner outlined a much simpler reason she regretted her appearances. She said she “didn’t feel very welcomed by the cast.” She was also disappointed that “none of the actors thought to offer [her] a seat” even though her “high heels were absolutely killing [her].”
Ultimately, Turner walked away feeling like an outsider. “I think it was simply that they were such a tight little group that nobody from the outside mattered,” she said.
Elle Macpherson
Model and entrepreneur Elle Macpherson starred as Joey’s roommate Janine Lecroix for five episodes. But she later seemed to express regrets about starring in the show.
“If I’d known how important it was in the U.S., or how long it would be on TV, I may not have chosen to do it,” she told Australia’s TV Week in 2016. “It was a lot of pressure if you look at it in the way that it will be around for 20 or 30 years.”
However, two years later, she denied she regretted the experience in an interview with news.com.au.
“What I said was, had I known how successful it was before going, I think I would have chickened out because it was such an iconic show and I probably wouldn’t have felt up to the job. But fortunately I went, But fortunately I went, I took a risk, I didn’t know how big of a risk I was taking, and I had the most incredible experience.”
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Jennifer Coolidge
Jennifer Coolidge is a naturally funny actress, so you’d think she might have loved her time guest-starring as a friend of Phoebe and Monica’s named Amanda Buffamonteezi. But in a 2019 interview with Metro, she opened up about finding the entire experience intimidating.
“I have to say, I was kind of intimidated, even though I knew Lisa [Kudrow] because she was in a comedy group,” Coolidge said. “But I didn’t know the rest of them and I was very intimidated because they were all so attractive and had it going on.”
Coolidge also noted how wild it was to be on that “glamorous set” and revealed, “I have to say, it didn’t feel like a sitcom. It really did feel like a movie set. Everyone had a very good looking entourage.”
Being intimidated is one thing, but she also felt her creative input and ideas were being shut down. “Sometimes I come in and throw some lines and they come up and say, ‘You know Jennifer, we’re just going to stick to the script,'” she said. “I don’t think they wanted my input and I could really feel that. . . . So I didn’t have the guts [to push].”