Yahoo Finance Jennifer Aniston says the Friends reunion was 'way harder than we anticipated'
It's been almost six months since we were reunited with our long-lost Friends via HBO Max's special and Jennifer Aniston is reflecting on one of pop culture's biggest reunions, admitting that recreating memories from 16 years ago "really took us all down way harder than we anticipated" largely due to the fact that the entire cast had changed so much over the years.
During a recent visit to the Literally! With Rob Lowe podcast, Aniston opened up about how the reunion with Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer really came to be, explaining that although the cast knew fans wanted it to happen they never knew what that kind of reunion could look like.
"Why unwrap the perfectly packaged [series]? You know, leave it where it was. Let's not disrupt it," Aniston told Lowe. "So when Ben Winston, our producer-director, came to each of us with his idea, it just resonated with all of us. And it didn't sound like something that would cheapen or tarnish something that was perfectly left in its place."
Jon Ragel/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images Friends cast
While the James Corden-led gathering was filled with many tears and overwhelming emotions, the two-hour reunion was ultimately a love-fest that included celebrity guests, a table read, and a lot of reminiscing. But that didn't mean there was a lot of emotional turmoil happening behind the scenes.
"Going back there, it's nostalgic in a way that's kind of also a little melancholy, you know?Because a lot has changed and we have all gone down different roads, not so easy and some easy... for each of us," explained Aniston. "There was a period where we were all kind of in a puddle."
Terence Patrick/HBO Max Jennifer Aniston on the Friends Reunion
Aniston recalled that while Schwimmer was the only one who seemed to hold their ground, pretty much everyone in the cast had their moments — even if those moments weren't captured on camera.
"Even LeBlanc broke at one point. You know, Mr. Tough Guy. You know, our brother. Mr. Impenetrable. Our big brother who would kill anybody if they looked at you wrong. Even he got a little misty," Aniston recalled.
Listen to what Aniston had to say about the reunion during the interview below.
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