Jennifer Aniston Cried Talking About ‘Friends’ 30th Anniversary

It’s been three decades since Rachel, Ross, Monica, Phoebe, Joey, and Chandler had their first Central Perk hangout, and Jennifer Aniston couldn’t help but cry “happy tears” while looking back at the timeless sitcom that made her a household name. In a BTS video from her Variety’s Actors on Actors conversation with Abbot Elementary actress Quinta Brunson, the star got choked up when her fellow sitcom star brought up Friends’ 30th anniversary amid co-star Matthew Perry’s passing last October.

In a clip taken from the interview that was shared on X (formerly Twitter) on June 6, the Morning Show star said “Oh God, don’t make me cry!” and got visibly emotional when Abbot asked her what it was like to re-watch the series now. 

“I won’t, we won’t make each other cry,” Brunson said. “But, you’re already crying. Do you want a minute? We don’t have to talk about [it].”

“Sorry, I just started thinking about…” Aniston said, trailing off. “It’s happy tears,” she continued, grabbing some tissues. “Okay, and we’re back!”

Despite her emotional start, the Emmy award-winning actress delved into the nostalgia during their conversation. She vividly described how she and Perry pranked co-star Lisa Kudrow at the hair salon on the day the show premiered on TV.

“It’s so strange to even think that it’s 30 years old. Because I remember the day that it was going to premiere on television, on NBC. Matthew Perry and I were having lunch somewhere, and we knew Lisa was getting her hair colored. So we ran into the hair salon, and I snuck up — she was in the sink — and I took the nozzle from the guy that was supposed to be doing it and just started washing her hair,” she recounted. “It definitely flew out of control, and that was unfortunate. But the excitement we had, it feels like yesterday.”

Comparing her Apple TV+ show role with being on the Warner Bros series, Aniston talked about how different it was being part of a sitcom before the social media boom.

“It was in the ’90s and 2000s, and we had a luxury of there not being social media or the internet, so we were so isolated and protected,” she said. “You weren’t faced with what people are commenting and ripping you apart or whatever. It was really an innocent time, where we could roam about the world a lot easier.”

The Friends alum also opened up about how close she still was with her co-stars, telling Brunson, “The fact that it’s had this long, wonderful life and it still means a lot to people is one of the greatest gifts I think all five of us — all six of us — we never could imagine.”

She continued, “And we see each other. I talked on FaceTime with Court [Courteney Cox] last night for an hour, and Lisa and the boys, and we just have a really — it’s a family forever.”