Jennifer Aniston Once Confirmed She Had a Crush on David Schwimmer During ‘Friends’: "Was Reciprocated"

As an iconic pop culture pair, Ross and Rachel will forever rule in the romcom genre. But what about their real-life versions, David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston?

It turns out that while they were filming the first season of Friends, they had some star-crossed infatuation if not actual star-crossed love. When presenter James Corden questioned the core six cast members about any off-camera hanky-panky on Friends: The Reunion, Aniston and Schwimmer acknowledged their feelings for each other while filming Friends. "The first season I had a major crush on Jen," Schwimmer revealed, before Aniston added, per Entertainment Weekly, "It was reciprocated."

Schwimmer added, "At some point, we were both crushing hard on each other, but it was like two ships passing because one of us was always in a relationship and we never crossed that boundary. We respected that."

Aniston recounted the significant moment in the rain under the Central Perk door frame and the entire on-screen build-up to their first kiss. Ross visits Central Perk in season 2 to confront Rachel after hearing her drunken voicemail about being over him. Rachel cries as he rushes away, but we later see him waiting for her through the window. They struggle to open the door before sharing the best kiss. This situation is romantic perfection in every way. Their heated quarrel is straight out of a romance novel, and it concludes with a hot kiss under the most romantic of circumstances: romantic rain.

"I just remember saying one time 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,'" she quipped. "Sure enough, the first time we kissed was in that coffee shop. So, we just channeled all of our love and adoration for each other into Ross and Rachel."

Co-star Courteney Cox claimed that their chemistry on film showed that they were in love even if they may have never spoken about it. "That scene in the coffee house, their first kiss, I was watching it the other day and I was weeping at the end of it," she said. "The tension, it was just palpable, it was just perfect."

Schwimmer is surprised that the entire cast and crew didn't see it, in retrospect. "I thought back on the very first year or two when we had breaks from rehearsal, there were moments where we would cuddle on the couch," he reflected. "And I'm thinking how did not everyone know we were crushing on each other?!"

But Joey knew! Matt LeBlanc retorted Schwimmer's statement, saying, "We knew for sure." But as Cox said, it was probably a good idea to let their off-screen relationship fuel their chemistry rather than risk complicating matters if they started dating and things didn't work out. “How great though ultimately ‘cause if you had and it didn’t work out, it would not have probably been as great,” Cox said.