'FRIENDS won't make you a star': Jennifer Aniston recalls producer's warning

Jennifer Aniston has recalled the story of a television producer telling her that FRIENDS wouldn't make her a star. She returned along with the original cast members for a special reunion episode earlier this week.

Jennifer Aniston recalled how a television producer told her that FRIENDS wouldn't make her a star. The actor had shot a few episodes of a sitcom called Muddling Through, which clashed with her being cast as Rachel Green in FRIENDS.

Jennifer Aniston poses in the press room with the award for outstanding performance by a female actor in a drama series for "The Morning Show" at the 26th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. (AP)

The actor returned alongside original cast members David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, Lisa Kudrow and Courteney Cox for a special reunion episode earlier this week. In an interview with Gayle King, she remembered thinking that Muddling Through wasn't the show for her, and said she had fallen in love with FRIENDS.

It was so complicated at one point that the FRIENDS producers contemplated recasting her. She said that some of her friends called and told her, "'I'm auditioning for Rachel. Will you help me with the…' And I was like, 'What?! Wait a second.'"

FRIENDS became one of the most successful sitcoms of all time, establishing Jennifer as one of Hollywood's highest-paid actors. It launched a successful career in films for her, and she didn't return to television until 2019's The Morning Show, on Apple TV+