'Friends' Guest Star Kathleen Turner Slams 'Unwelcoming' And 'Cliquey' Cast

Kathleen Turner has revealed the ‘Friends’ cast were not exactly friendly towards her when she guest starred on the show.

The veteran star has admitted she did not feel “welcomed” by the core six actors when she played Chandler’s drag queen father Charles Bing in season seven. 

Looking back at her 2001 guest appearances, which saw Charles introduced in the lead-up to Chandler’s marriage to Monica, she accused the cast of being cliquey. 

Kathleen told Vulture: “I didn’t feel very welcomed by the cast.

“I remember I was wearing this difficult sequinned gown — and my high heels were absolutely killing me. I found it odd that none of the actors thought to offer me a seat.

“Finally it was one of the older crew members that said, ‘Get Miss Turner a chair’.”

She continued: “The ‘Friends’ actors were such a clique - but I don’t think my experience with them was unique.

“I think it was simply that they were such a tight little group that nobody from the outside mattered.”

In the years since ‘Friends’ first aired, scenes and storylines involving the character of Charles - whose drag name was Helena Handbasket - have been criticised by newer fans of the show.

Many have commented on how remarks made by other characters made his gender identity issues the butt of the joke, with Kathleen recently agreeing that the show “had not aged well” in regards to LGBTQ issues.

She told Gay Times: “It was a 30-minute sitcom. It became a phenomenon, but no one ever took it seriously as a social comment.”

Of the character, Kathleen said Charles was a groundbreaking one, adding: “How they approached with me with it was, ‘Would you like to be the first woman playing a man playing a woman?’ I said yes, because there weren’t many drag/trans people on television at the time.”