Random Behind the Scenes Drama from the Set of Friends (16 items)

(#5) Lisa Kudrow was terrified of the duck.
The chick and the duck weren’t a delight for everyone on set. Kudrow isn’t a big fan of birds and was actually really afraid of the duck. By how flawless their on-screen interactions were, no one would have guessed anything other than pure chemistry.
(#11) Jennifer Aniston almost didn’t return for the final season.
By the time the show ended, Aniston was arguably the most famous of the six friends. In a 2004 interview, she admitted she had hesitations about returning to play Rachel for the final season because she wasn’t sure about “how much Rachel” she still had in her. Thankfully, she agreed to stay on. Ultimately, the episode order was cut from 24 to 18 to accommodate her schedule.
(#4) Matthew Perry struggled with addiction.
Perry’s addiction problems are no longer a secret but they sure made his life difficult while on the set of Friends. He once confessed that his substance abuse problem caused him to forget filming three seasons of the show. While he said never used on set, he admitted to going into work hungover on several occasions.
(#2) Jennifer Aniston was kind of scared of Matt LeBlanc.
Before meeting LeBlanc, Aniston took one look at his resume, assumed he'd be a tough guy, and was a little intimidated by him. “He thinks it's very funny now. And actually, he can sit down and comfort me just like Courteney or Lisa could,” explained Aniston. That Joey Tribbiani and his big heart.
(#16) Filming the final episode was very emotional for the entire cast.
Filming the final episode of Friends was very emotional for everyone involved. “I mean, the last scene we just wept, cried our eyes out... [A]nd then a couple of us stayed really late and we crawled up to the roof of Stage 24 [at Warner Bros.] and we drank champagne and watched the sun rise. It was really wonderful,” Aniston recalls.
(#9) Salary negotiations didn’t always go smoothly.
The Friends cast famously negotiated their salaries together, eventually earning $1 million per episode. They were the first cast in the history of television to score such a huge number. It was David Schwimmer’s idea for them to band together and form a mini-union. However, network execs weren’t always happy with these negotiations, and Marta Kauffman, one of the creators, even went so far as to call the salaries of the six friends “ridiculous.”