A trip down memory lane! Brad Pitt reflected on his experience guest-starring on Friends nearly 18 years ago — and it wasn’t completely smooth sailing.
“I remember it. It’s a great cast, man. I mean, they laugh and really have a great time with each other. But I flubbed my first line,” Pitt, 55, told Access Hollywood on Wednesday, September 18. “We had to stop and start again.”
The Ad Astra actor appeared on a Friends Thanksgiving-themed episode, titled “The One with the Rumor,” during the popular show’s eighth season in 2001. Pitt portrayed Will Colbert, a man who had a bone to pick with his former high school classmate Rachel Green, who was played by the Oscar nominee’s then-wife Jennifer Aniston.
Pitt’s Will, who had shed 150 pounds since his school days, was invited over for Thanksgiving dinner by fellow former schoolmate Monica Geller (Courteney Cox). Due to his weight loss, Rachel didn’t recognize Will as she attempted to flirt with him. However, unbeknownst to Rachel, Will was formerly a member of the “I Hate Rachel” club with her then-ex boyfriend Ross Geller (David Schwimmer).
It was later revealed that the pair were also behind a major rumor that suggested Rachel was a “hermaphrodite.”
Pitt and Aniston, 50, were married from 2000 to 2005. In a joint statement after their split, the exes said their breakup was “not the result of any speculation reported by the tabloid media” but the “result of much thoughtful consideration.”
After calling it quits with ex-wife Angelina Jolie in 2016, the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood actor attended the Murder Mystery star’s 50th birthday party earlier this year. Us Weekly reported that Pitt and Aniston had rekindled their friendship, with a source stating in March: “Jen and Brad are still in touch and speak, but there still isn’t anything going on romantically between them.”
Pitt’s Friends revelation came as the sitcom, created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, celebrates its 25th anniversary. The show ran on NBC for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004. Aniston, Cox and Schwimmer starred with Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe Buffay), Matt LeBlanc (Joey Tribbiani) and Matthew Perry (Chandler Bing).
Cox, 55, Schwimmer, 52, LeBlanc, 52, and Kudrow, 56, all shared the same old cast pic to Instagram in honor of the show’s anniversary on Thursday, September 19. Their social posts were accompanied by the same statement, which read: “Celebrating a Thursday night 25 years ago. We might be in different places, but we are connected.”
Aniston recently opened up about how she missed working on Friends. “I miss a lot about that time. Having a job that was absolute, pure joy,” Aniston told InStyle on August 6. “I miss getting to be with people I love massively and respect beyond words. So, yes, these days I’m super nostalgic.”
Friends has seen a resurgence since it’s finale aired in 2004 due to fans, both old and new, discovering it on Netflix. Despite this, devoted viewers should not expect the series to get the reboot treatment.
“Why mess up a good thing?” Kauffman, the show’s cocreator and executive producer, told the Associated Press in June. “We wouldn’t want a reunion to disappoint fans.”
