WARNING – THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR FRIENDS: THE REUNION
For 10 years, Friends fans followed Ross and Rachel’s on-off relationship, with the show culminating in an episode dedicated to their will they, won’t they reunion. (Seventeen-year-old spoiler: she got off the plane).
Now, stars Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer have revealed that the chemistry on screen was also there in real life during the early episodes of the show.
Speaking to host James Corden during Friends: The Reunion, in news that possibly tops even the rumoured Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck romance rekindling, the two actors admitted they both had feelings for each other before their characters got together.
Friends: The Reunion sees the cast back together on screen for the first time in 17 years. Pic: Sky/ Warner Media/ HBO
“The first season, I had a major crush on Jen,” said Schwimmer, with Aniston saying this “was reciprocated”.
“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,” Schwimmer continued. “And we never crossed that boundary. You know, we respected that, but we both…”
So they said it never went any further – but at this point Schwimmer was interrupted by a “bulls***” from Matt LeBlanc, which was met with laughter.
But according to Aniston, it never did – and their first kiss was the one as Ross and Rachel we all saw on screen in Central Perk in season two.
“Honestly,” she protested. “And I remember saying one time to David, ‘it’s going to be such a bummer if the first time you and I actually kiss is going to be on national television’. Sure enough, the first time we kissed was in that coffee shop. But we just channelled all of our adoration and love for each other into Ross and Rachel.”
The cast were reunited in front of the famous fountain and answered questions in front of a live audience. Pic: Warner Media/ HBO/ Sky UK
Aniston and Schwimmer joined the rest of the cast for the much-hyped Friends: The Reunion show, which is now available to watch in the UK on demand on Sky and NOW.
Following the crush revelation, the pair did a table read of their first kiss scene, interspersed with footage from the episode.
Schwimmer then went on to say that during breaks in filming, they would often “cuddle on the couch”.
He continued: “And I’m thinking, how did not everyone know we were crushing on each other?”
They knew, both Matthew Perry and Courteney Cox tell him.
“It was a situation that… we couldn’t do anything about it,” Schwimmer said, to which Cox replied: “How great though ultimately because if you had and it didn’t work out…”
But what if it did, Courteney Cox?
Aniston of course went on to marry Brad Pitt, who guest starred in the series.
What fans will want to know now, though, is are both Aniston and Schwimmer single now? Hey, if JLo is going back to Bennifer after 17 years, surely that’s good enough for the real-life Ross and Rachel.