When Jennifer Aniston Said 'I Could Not Get Rachel Green Off My Back'

Friends' Rachel Green, a beloved character essayed by Jennifer Aniston, will live on forever. However, the Marley and Me actress recalled struggling to break the mold of her iconic role. While appearing on The Hollywood Reporter's Drama Actress Roundtable in 2020 she said, "I could not get Rachel Green off of my back for the life of me. I could not escape Rachel from ‘Friends,’ just Rachel from ‘Friends,’ it's on all the time and you're just like, 'Stop playing this f---ing show,'" Aniston said. "I completely just fought with myself and who I was in this industry forever because it was just constantly about trying to prove I was more than that."

She continued, "The Good Girl was the first time I got to really shed whatever the Rachel character was and to be able to disappear into someone who wasn’t that was such a relief to me. But I remember the panic that set over me, thinking, “Oh God, I don’t know if I can do this. Maybe they’re right. Maybe everybody else is seeing something I’m not seeing, which is you are only that girl in the New York apartment with the purple walls.” So, I was almost doing it for myself just to see if I could do something other than that. And it was terrifying because you’re doing it in front of the world." She added, "But there is such a freedom in getting older because you just stop giving a crap."

Aniston also spoke about trying to keep the balance as an actor, "That’s right. Once you play comedy, they don’t think you can do the drama; and if you’re only seen as a dramatic actor, they don’t think you can do comedy. They forget that we’re actors and we actually have it all in there. It’s just about finding it and accessing it and getting the material." She fondly remembered the life lessons she learned while playing the role during an interview with People, “I think we were holding a sheet over us and I don’t know what that meant,” she said. “Oh, everything was the most exciting thing on the planet. It was just magic. Nothing was not exciting. Everything was exciting.” Adding, “That feeling when it wasn’t about ‘making it’ but just working — maintain that,” she said. “Patience, to be kind, to respect your fellow actors. And just tell the truth.”

As per Bustle, Aniston gratefully recalled the first time she stepped into the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California for the Friends role. “I do remember stepping onto the set and I don't know, it was just magic. It was the best,” she said. “The cast that I met, the show that I was able to be on that has touched so many people and continues to touch people — that’s probably the most important.” She recently paid ode to her favorite character by sharing old pictures of her hair done with clips and hairbands from the many seasons of the well-liked sitcom, which ran from 1994 to 2004 on Instagram. "The clips that caused a million trends Shout out to Rachel Green and her iconic hair accessories," Aniston captioned the images. 

As per People, she began the Instagram carousel post with a photo of herself with her hair fashioned in an updo using an unseen clip from one of the show's early seasons, when she also debuted her trademark 'Rachel' hairstyle. Additionally, she displayed a ponytail secured with a silver clip and half down, half up. Other photos from the sitcom had the Horrible Bosses actress with longer hair, which was pulled back with a minimum of three tiny clips and done in a more intricate updo using a headband and a clip.