David Schwimmer & Jennifer Aniston Crushed on Each Other… and More ‘Friends’ Reunion Revelations!

The “Friends” reunion special is everything fans could have hoped for, with all six actors together again for the first time since they shot the final episode. There are plenty of laughs, tears… and a whole lotta surprises!

Warning: Spoilers Ahead

Keep reading for some of the biggest revelations from castmates David Schwimmer (Ross Geller), Jennifer Aniston (Rachel Green), Matthew Perry (Chandler Bing), Courteney Cox (Monica Geller), Matt LeBlanc (Joey Tribbiani) and Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe Buffay).

Castmate Crushes

The biggest moment of the special is when David and Jennifer confessed to having crushes on each other… just like Ross and Rachel!

David admits, "The first season, I had a major crush on Jen… At some point, we were both crushing hard on each other."

Aniston agrees, saying, “It was reciprocated.”

"It was two ships passing,” Schwimmer says, claiming nothing ever actually happened between them “because one of us was always in a relationship. We never crossed that boundary — we respected it."

LeBlanc jokingly blurts out, “Bulls—t!”

Cox says the cast knew the two had a thing for each other. "We knew for sure," she says, adding, "If you had [acted on it], and didn't work out, [the show] probably wouldn't have been as great."

Jen adds, "We channeled all of that passion and love for each other into Ross and Rachel," recalling the characters’ first kiss in Season 2 in the episode “The One Where Ross Finds Out.”

Aniston says, "I remember saying to David, 'It’s going to be such a bummer if the first time you and I actually kiss is going to be on national television.' Sure enough, the first time we kissed was in that coffee shop."

Recasting Rachel?

It’s hard to imagine “Friends” without Aniston, but that was nearly the case.

It turns out she was already on a series called “Muddling Through,” and filmed the “Friends” pilot and two additional episodes at the same time.

Had “Muddling Through” been picked up, “Friends” would have been forced to recast Rachel!

Aniston recalls, "I went to the producer of the show I was on, and said, 'Please release me from this show. I love this show that I'm doing right now.' He said, 'I saw that show. I'm going to tell you something — that show is not going to make you a star. This show is going to make you a star.'"

The rest is TV history!

Ow! LeBlanc’s On-Set Accident

It turns out Matt suffered a nasty injury on the set during Season 3’s "The One Where No One's Ready."

The cast reveals they ran out of time and decided to skip their usual pre-show huddle. They soon learned to regret it when LeBlanc dislocated his shoulder leaping into a couch.

The special reveals footage from the set, showing LeBlanc’s shoulder drooping down and on-set paramedics arriving to help. Schwimmer can be heard yelling, “Cut!”

When the cast returned to set days later, they had to film a new scene… and the writers had to come up with a reason for Joey’s arm to be in a sling.

Matt blames skipping the huddle for his injury. Kudrow explains, "After that, we were like, 'Do we need to do the huddle?' And he'd say, 'Yeah, because I don't want anything else falling off me.’ After that, we always did it!"

Going for the Laugh

The cast recalls what it was like filming in front of a live studio audience, with Matthew confessing it was a major stressor for him.

He explains, "To me, I felt like I was going to die if they didn't laugh. And it's not healthy, for sure. But I would sometimes say a line and they wouldn't laugh and I would sweat and just go into convulsions. If I didn't get the laugh I was supposed to get, I would freak out."

Lisa expresses surprise, saying, "You didn't tell us that, though. I don't remember you ever saying that."

Perry confirms, "Oh, yeah. I felt like that every single night."

Monkey Business

Schwimmer gets candid about his least favorite castmate… Marcel the monkey!

He jokes, "It was time for Marcel to f*** off," before explaining, "I love animals, and I love primates," but insisting the monkey consistently missed its mark. “What inevitably began to happen is that we would all have choreographed bits timed out, and it would get messed up because the monkey didn't do its job right. We were about to do something really funny, but the monkey didn't hit its mark, so we'd have to start again."

Even worse, Marcel would munch on grubs in between takes while he was sitting on David’s shoulder. "The trainer would come up and give the monkey live grubs to eat. So the monkey would be sitting on my shoulder, take some grubs, break them in half, eat it and then [touch my head]. I had monkey grubby hands all over!"

A “Smelly Cat” Duet

What better way to commemorate Phoebe’s iconic “Smelly Cat,” than with help from a pop star like Lady Gaga!

Lisa is shown getting ready to play the song solo, joking, “I should be Phoebe for this,” when Gaga shows up, telling her, "I was just walking down the street, and I happened to have my guitar. You mind if I take 'Smelly Cat' for a spin?'"

Gaga begins to sing and Kudrow joins in… and then a choir!

More Celebrity Sightings

There are plenty of cameos and celebrity sightings in the special, too!

Supporting cast members like Maggie Wheeler (Janice), Tom Selleck (Richard), Elliott Gould and Christina Pickles (the Geller parents) make appearances, while the special also features “Friends” fans like David Beckham and BTS. There is even a runway of “Friends” looks with models including Cindy Crawford… and Justin Bieber!