Reese Witherspoon has admitted she was given the chance to return to Friends after her first guest appearance, but turned the offer down.
Prior to her rise to fame in the 2001 film Legally Blonde, Reese appeared in a two-part episode of the hit sitcom, playing Rachel’s sister, Jill.
Since then, Reese has been reunited with her on-screen sister Jennifer Aniston in the Apple TV+ series The Morning Show, but as it turns out, they could have been sharing the screen together much earlier.
During a joint interview with AP, the pair discussed whether they enjoyed performing in front of a live audience, which Jennifer perfected during her time on Friends.
Jennifer said of her co-star: “She’s so good in front of a live audience. You forget it because you blacked out from fear.”
Reese then revealed: “Did you know they asked me back? They asked me back and I said I couldn’t do it… I was too scared!”
“What a shame!” Jennifer replied. “You would have started to love it!”
A future storyline three years after Reese’s appearance saw the introduction of Rachel’s other sister, Amy, who was played by Christina Applegate.
Christina won an Emmy for her guest spot, which eventually led to a follow-up appearance in the show’s final series.
During its 10 years on the air, Friends pulled in an impressive number of guest stars, which included Oscar-winning actors like George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Gary Oldman.
One star they never managed to snag, though, was Tom Hanks, with Freddie Prinze Jr recently revealing that his Friends character had initially been offered to the Forrest Gump actor.
