Jennifer Aniston shed a tear while reflecting on the legacy of Friends, three decades after it first premiered.
The US actress, who found global stardom playing Rachel Green in the TV sitcom, became emotional during the latest episode of Variety’s Actors On Actors YouTube series with Abbott Elementary star Quinta Brunson.
“Oh, god, don’t make me cry,” she said, after an off-camera person told 34-year-old Brunson to ask Aniston about the sitcom.
Brunson comforted Aniston, confirming they did not have to discuss it, while Aniston wiped away her tears with a tissue.
“Sorry, I just started thinking about … I’m okay, it’s happy tears,” she said.
It comes after the death of Friends co-star Matthew Perry, who was found unresponsive in the pool at his residence on October 28 last year before he was pronounced dead at the age of 54.
His death was later ruled an accident from the acute effects of ketamine, however the Los Angeles Police Department recently confirmed it was working on an “open investigation” into the circumstances of his death.
Perry was open about his battle with substance abuse and addiction and had set up a sober living facility for men with similar issues.
The late actor played sarcastic and witty Chandler Bing in the sitcom, opposite Courteney Cox who played his on-screen wife Monica Geller and David Schwimmer who played her brother Ross Geller, while Lisa Kudrow and Matt LeBlanc played Phoebe Buffay and Joey Tribbiani respectively.
“It’s so strange to even think that it’s 30 years old,” Aniston said, referencing the first episode of the show which aired in 1994.
“I remember the day that it was going to premiere on television, on NBC. Me and Matthew Perry were having lunch somewhere, and we knew Lisa was getting her hair coloured.
“So we ran into the hair salon, and I snuck up — she was in the sink hair bowl — and I took the nozzle from the guy that was supposed to be doing it and just started washing her hair.
“It definitely flew out of control, and that was unfortunate. But the excitement we had, and it feels like yesterday.
“The fact that its 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.”
Aniston said she spoke to Cox on FaceTime for an hour the night before the interview, and regularly sees Kudrow “and the boys”.
“It’s a family forever,” the 55-year-old added.