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Jennifer Aniston says Friends reunion was ‘jarring’ and cast were ‘naive’ before filming

Jennifer Aniston says Friends reunion was ‘jarring’ and cast were ‘naive’ before filming

Jennifer Aniston has admitted the Friends cast were “naive” going into the long-awaited reunion with HBO this year.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the TV and film star discussed subjects including her career to date and the media scrutiny over her decision not to have children.

During the conversation, Aniston also spoke about her feelings ahead of the reunion with her Friends co-stars and said she had found the experience “jarring”.

“I think we were just so naive walking into it, thinking, ‘How fun is this going to be? They’re putting the sets back together, exactly as they were,’” she said. “Then you get there and it’s like, ‘Oh right, I hadn’t thought about what was going on the last time I was actually here.’

“And it just took me by surprise because it was like, ‘Hi, past, remember me? Remember how that sucked? You thought everything was in front of you and life was going to be just gorgeous and then you went through maybe the hardest time in your life?’”

She continued: “It was all very jarring and, of course, you’ve got cameras everywhere and I’m already a little emotionally accessible, I guess you could say, so I had to walk out at certain points. I don’t know how they cut around it.”

Jennifer Aniston found the ‘Friends’ reunion difficult (Getty Images)
Jennifer Aniston found the ‘Friends’ reunion difficult (Getty Images)

The 52-year-old made similar comments in September, saying she found the emotions that the event dredged up difficult to deal with.

“We didn’t know what it would look like,” Aniston told actor Rob Lowe during an appearance on his podcast. “I mean, we’d been hearing about it for a long time, [and] we knew that people wanted it – fans really wanted kind of a reunion.”

She continued: “I think it really took us all down way harder than we anticipated. In your mind, you think, ‘Oh, this will be really fun to time travel.’ It turns out… it’s kind of hard to time travel.

“All of a sudden, here you are, and, you know, 16 years… a lot has gone on for each of us. Sixteen years ago, we were all sort of wide-eyed, bushy-tailed, and sort of had our whole lives ahead of us, even though we were heartbroken to say goodbye to these 10 years and… the job we all loved to do. So, going back there – it’s nostalgic in a way that’s kind of also a little melancholy, you know, ’cause a lot has changed.”

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