So no-one told you life was gonna be this way. Your job’s a joke, you’re broke; your love life’s D.O.A! It’s like you’re always stuck in second gear, when it hasn’t been your day, your week, your month, or even your year!
Not my words, of course, but those of the Rembrandts in their 90s hit ‘I’ll Be There for You’ which was later bitesized to supply the theme tune to the insanely-popular sitcom, Friends.
Anyway, enough about them, what about Jennifer Aniston? Moreover, what about the co-stars she dated on the show!
Take your guesses. ‘Matt LeBlanc definitely,’ one of you punts. ‘David Schwimmer, it’s gotta be!’ another shrieks.
Both wrong. Matthew Perry? Wrong again. You might not even remember who I’m about to mention, bar one or two.
I’ll be there for you, when the rain starts to pour! I’ll be there for you, like I’ve been there before! I’ll be there for you, ’cause ya there for me too!
Woops, started singing again. So yeah, any of you remember Joshua? Or Josh-wa as Aniston’s character Rachel Green called him? He was the guy who went to get a jacket fitted at Rachel’s work only to be charmed by her nervous attempts at flirting. She later ended up dressing as a cheerleader for him which went sour after botching a cartwheel and busting her lip.
He was played by Tate Donovan, who would later star in seminal noughties teen-drama The O.C. But before all that, yep you guessed it, he dated Jennifer Aniston! He was even engaged to her at one stage. Their relationship fared a bit better away from the cameras but alas fizzled out.
Unlike most Hollywood couplings, the pair did not meet on the show. In fact, they were in the process of splitting up when Tate agreed to appear on the sitcom.
He told Huff Post Live retrospectively:
I love those guys. I’d go visit the set when I wasn’t working, I’d come and hang out. Those guys were geniuses at their job. That show was fantastic to watch. But, unfortunately, Jen and I were breaking up [when I appeared on the show]. We were broken up and the producers were like ‘hey would you wanna do six episodes on the show?’ And I was like ‘maybe it would be good to work through this break-up.’
It was bad. It around April [when I told her] and she thought it was like an April Fool’s Day joke, and I was like ‘no, seriously. They want me to come on’. It was horrible. It was so tough, man. I remember just getting back to my dressing room and just weeping.
Thankfully the two later buried the hatchet.
Mr Lucky No. 2: Paul Rudd. Weirdly enough, he went on to play Phoebe’s love interest and eventual husband, Mike.
Yep, the two dated for a brief period on 1998’s The Object of My Affection. I guess thing’s didn’t go on to become awkward as Rudd had a pretty major role towards the end of Friends. Not only that, but the two starred alongside each other in 2012’s Wanderlust.
Aniston told Collider at the time:
It was heaven! We were so happy, it felt like no time had passed. We’ve also seen each other, throughout the years, so it was just that excitement of, ‘Oh, this is going to be so fun and comfortable’, especially playing a married couple and having that ease and familiarity. It was just fun.
There was a third, and if you don’t already know it then, get clued up on your showbiz gossip bro.
It was Brad Pitt. The two were actually married for five years, so we won’t count it as a co-star fling. Plus, he was only on one episode, which was great tbf.
The more you know, though!
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