Society has pretty much made their ruling on the epic 90s sitcom Friends, and for better or worse, it’s part of our lexicon forever and ever. Amen.
I mean, it’s not like current generations don’t have some (rightful) critiques, and even most of us from the Millennial and GenX generations think there are parts that are super cringe through the modern lens, but I mean…it’s not going anywhere, and neither are the references.
Image Credit: HBO Max
Revisiting the show is different, I would assume, for those who experienced it from the inside – an assumption that Jennifer Aniston confirmed when she talked about what it was like to return for the long-anticipated reunion.
She sat down with the Hollywood Reporter and talked about how being on the set again brought back memories of the “hardest time in her life.”
To be clear, she’s not talking about working on the show itself, which was a dream, but about going back onto the sets and into the person she had been back then and having to face how the real future has differed from the one she dreamed she would live.
Image Credit: HBO Max
She said that she didn’t expect it at all, and it hit her so much harder than she ever would have thought.
“It was like, ‘Hi, past, remember me? Remember how that sucked? You thought everything was in front of you and life was going to be just gorgeous and then you went through maybe the hardest time in your life?”
She didn’t expand, but anyone who knows their pop culture history remembers more than a few bumps – her split with Brad Pitt, the constant media hounding regarding her romantic life, her body, her acting choices…take your pick.
Image Credit: HBO Max
“It was all very jarring and, of course, you’ve got cameras everywhere and I’m already a little emotionally accessible, I guess you could say, so I had to walk out at certain points. I don’t know how they cut around it.”
She reiterated again that it wasn’t career related, for the most part, but “more personal stuff that I had expectations about that sort of shape-shifted.”
In the end, like the rest of us, she has to count those hardships as blessings because they made her the woman she is today – and she’s happy with that person.
If you’re interested in reading more about her thoughts on the reunion, her past with the show, and how she’s emerged on the other side the actress and woman she is today, you can read the rest of the interview here.
Image Credit: HBO Max
I know I’m not alone in being happy she pushed through and joined the rest of the cast for the reunion, because it wouldn’t have been the same without her.
I’m also thankful that she continues to be frank and open about the hardships we all endure on this road called life – because there are bumps whether you’re famous or not.
