„They Actually Like It Better When You Mess Up”. Reese Witherspoon Will Always Remember the Advice She Got from Jennifer Aniston on the Set of Friends
Reese Witherspoon shared valuable advice she received from Jennifer Aniston on the set of Friends. Thanks to her, she got rid of stress before the performance.
Starring in Friends was a stressful experience for Reese Witherspoon. The actress, playing alongside esteemed TV series artists, in a production as popular as Friends, was afraid of messing something up, and as a result, stress overwhelmed her on the set. She was helped in dealing with it by Jennifer Aniston, who came to her with valuable advice.
Witherspoon talked about her experiences on the set of Friends as a guest on the Late Night with Seth Meyers program.
So, I was terrified. I was out of my body. I was – my body was there and then my head and my brain were somewhere else. Walking into Central Perk... and sitting on the couch, I was like, “Oh, my God, I can't believe this is happening. Oh, my God, there's Joey. Oh, my God”. I was terrified but Aniston was so sweet to me. She was like, “They don't care if you mess up. They actually like it better when you mess up”.
Aniston helped her set mate calm down and perform in the TV series without stress. Witherspoon was thus able to enjoy her own performance, which she still remembers perfectly to this day. She is still able to recall from memory the lines she uttered, which indeed, like many others from Friends, are iconic.
The funny storyline was that I started dating Ross because she and Ross were ‘on a break’. And she was – gets really jealous and she’s like “You can’t date Ross”. And I was like “I can’t? The only thing I can’t have is dairy”. I still remember the line. Their writing was so good on that show, so it’s really memorable… I have all sorts of funny, famous Friends lines that are stuck in my head. Don’t y’all?
And there was indeed valuable information hidden in Aniston's advice, naturalness and a certain improvisation was what many fans liked Friends for, so instead of being afraid of stumbles, it was better to accept them, and often they could become a valuable part of the show.
