Friends Actors Who Once Had A Crush On Jennifer Aniston
Just as it seemed that everyone was in love with Rachel on the hit NBC sitcom "Friends," several actors also had a crush on her portrayer, Jennifer Aniston — including some of her co-stars.
One of the most talked about crushes was mutual. On "Friends: The Reunion," Aniston and co-star David Schwimmer talked about their behind-the-scenes relationship, revealing they both had a thing for each other during the show's first season (via Entertainment Weekly). Schwimmer spilled what happened, saying, "The first season, I had a major crush on Jen." Aniston quickly followed up with, "It was reciprocated."
Schwimmer said though they knew they had feelings for each other, the timing was never right because one of them was always in a relationship. "I just 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,'" said Aniston. And she was right. "Sure enough, first time we kissed was in that coffee shop. So, we just channeled all of our love and adoration for each other into Ross and Rachel," she added.
Along with David Schwimmer, Matthew Perry also had a crush on Aniston
David Schwimmer wasn't the only co-star who had a major crush on Jennifer Aniston. Matthew Perry told Diane Sawyer how he liked the actress long before they worked together on "Friends," per ABC News. He even asked her out once, but she rejected him in a somewhat premonitory fashion and said they would be better as friends.
By the time the actors worked together on "Friends," Perry said he still had feelings for Aniston. He even wrote in his memoir, "Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing," that he was fascinated by her that he would find himself looking at her and wondering how long he should keep the stare. Yet, he also developed feelings for the other female leads, Courtney Cox and Lisa Kudrow.
"How can you not have a crush on Jenny, and Courtney, and Lisa?" Perry said to Sawyer. "So it made it kinda difficult to go to work because I had to pretend I didn't have these."
Other stars crushed on Jennifer Aniston, too
Even the youngest of actors had crushes on Jennifer Aniston. Actor Cole Sprouse who played Ross Geller's son, Ben, had a childhood crush on her. "I remember feeling so, so intimidated by my crush on her that I completely blanked and forgot every single one of my lines, and she just stared at me and was waiting, " Sprouse said on "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert."
Interestingly, some of the romances that Jennifer Aniston had off-screen somehow ended up on the show. Her ex-fiance Tate Donovan was invited to do six episodes on the show, but it occurred when he and Aniston had just broken up, so the experience was painful. "It was horrible," Donovan said to Huffington Post (via Mirror). "It was so tough, man. I remember just getting back to my dressing room and just weeping," he added.
Actor Paul Rudd also appeared on "Friends" as Phoebe's boyfriend, who soon became her husband, Mike Hannigan. Behind the scenes, Rudd and Aniston had a brief romance years before the show began. With Aniston's beauty and talent, it's no surprise she captured so many hearts on-screen and off.