Friends is still a pop culture phenomenon nearly twenty years after the series finale aired back in 2004, and the show is even easily accessible streaming with a Max subscription. Reese Witherspoon, who played Rachel's sister Jill in two episodes of Season 6 in 2000, recently reflected on coming to the hit show and why it created one of her "scariest moments ever."
As Jill Green, Reese Witherspoon played a character who was an even more extreme version of early Season 1 Rachel, complete with the spending habits. Working on Friends also marked the first time the actress joined forces with future The Morning Show co-star Jennifer Aniston. Witherspoon looked back at some of her iconic roles to People and reflected on the Friends gig:
Oh my gosh, being on Friends still to this day is one of my scariest moments ever. Because it was in front of a live audience and I'd never really done theater. I'd never been in front of a live audience, and I was just blown away by how that cast pivoted so quickly with their jokes.
This isn't the first time that Reese Witherspoon opened up about her nerves on the set of Friends, previously explaining her reaction to getting to sit on the iconic Central Perk couch. She also isn't alone in feeling scared on Friends due to the live studio audience, as Jennifer Aniston herself said that guests would be "terrified" at all the people laughing at what they were saying.
Watching the ensemble – comprised of Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, and the late Matthew Perry – at work together also made an impact on Reese Witherspoon, as she went on to say:
They had this natural rapport and rhythm with each other that I think has never really been that – I've never seen it again. It was just the six people working in rhythm together, and you could tell they truly loved each other. It's really lovely to me that I got to see them. I was the kid on set – I think I was 22, and of course Jen was just the sweetest to me. I had just had a baby and I remember her and Courteney running to my dressing room and going, 'Can we see the baby? You have a baby?' I was like, 'I do, y'all, I have a baby.' They would be like, 'Can we touch the baby? Can we hold the baby?' I was like, 'Yeah, here!' Ava was on set and I put her in the couch in Central Perk. I still have a little picture of her at Central Perk.
Who could have known all those years ago that Witherspoon would one day be co-leading and co-executive producing a show with Jennifer Aniston by the 2020s?! While Witherspoon ultimately only appeared in two episodes of Friends, she was certainly memorable and made our list of the best Friends guest appearances for a reason. (Christina Applegate also made the list for playing the third Green sister.)
While Reese Witherspoon was scared on the Friends set, her performance certainly didn't suffer, and her career skyrocketed from 2000 onward, including an Academy Award win for 2006's Walk the Line. Interestingly, although she has worked in television much more over the years, she hasn't gone back to a multi-cam sitcom in front of a live studio audience. Perhaps she had her fill with Friends? She did host Saturday Night Live the year after debuting as Jill Green, though, so she seemingly mastered her nerves.
If you want to revisit Withspoon's episodes of Friends, you can do so by streaming Season 6 (as well as every other season) on Max. The Morning Show Season 4 will arrive for Apple TV+ subscribers at some point, but perhaps not soon enough to make the 2024 TV schedule.
