20 years later: how the lives of the main characters of the Friends series turned out

20 years ago, the top TV series, which remains popular today, ended its run. The last episode of Friends aired on May 6, 2004 and had over 50 million viewers.

The series starred Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer and Matthew Perry, whose names are now known to millions. And today OBOZ.UA decided to show you how the main characters of Friends have changed and what has happened in their lives over the past twenty years.

Jennifer Aniston - Rachel Green

The end of the Friends series was a new chapter in the actress's personal life - after the show ended, she underwent huge changes. She went through a painful divorce from Brad Pitt. Aniston later admitted that therapy helped her pull herself out of that state. At the same time, she starred in the movie American Divorce. After that, the actress continued to develop her film career, has another marriage to her colleague Justin Theroux, several unsuccessful romances, and reconciliation with her first husband. Despite the fact that the changes in Aniston's life after Friends were difficult, the actress overcame all the difficulties.

Courteney Cox - Monica Heller

But Courteney Cox, who played Monica in the series, got married in real life during the filming of Friends - her chosen one was actor David Arquette. The couple dated for two years and got married in 1999. Courtney and David's daughter, Coco Arquette, was born in 2004. Yes, yes - during the 10th season of Friends, Courtney was pregnant. But, unlike her colleague Lisa Kudrow, the actress's pregnancy could not be written into the series, as Monica could not have children in the story. In fact, at the time, Monica and Chandler were trying to adopt a baby, and Courtney had to wear baggy clothes to hide her pregnancy from the cameras.

In addition to playing Monica, Courtney is best known for playing Gail Weathers in the horror movie franchise Scream. The actress has also appeared in several other films and TV shows, such as The Shining Valley, Shameless, and Modern Family.

Courtney's relationship with her first husband David did not work out. They tried to save their marriage for some time, but divorced in 2010. After a while, she began dating singer, songwriter and musician Johnny McDade of the indie rock band Snow Patrol.

Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe Buffay

The actress who played Phoebe was the oldest among the other Friends. Today she is already 60, but she looks great and is happy in her personal life: Kidrow has been married for over 25 years and has an adult son.

As for her acting career, Lisa admits that Friends gave her the opportunity to earn so much money that she had a lot of freedom to choose roles and room for creativity later in life. Since Friends ended, Kudrow has probably made the most interesting career choice, clearly based on content rather than big fees. She doesn't appear onscreen as often as other actors, but she still acts in films and directs.

Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani

After the series ended in 2004, the actor went on to play the role of Joey Tribbiani in the spin-off series Joey. The NBC sitcom initially occupied the time slot that had long housed Friends on Thursday nights. However, due to low ratings, the series was canceled after the second season. And LeBlanc then took a break from acting. The revival of the actor's career took place in 2010 after he became the executive producer of the John Hex western. This was followed by more roles in various comedy series and films. The actor continues to act today.

As for his personal life, the actor is currently single. While working on the series, Matt started living with model and actress Melissa McKnight. The couple got married in 2003, and a year later they had a daughter, Marina Pearl LeBlanc. However, two years after the child's birth, LeBlanc and McKnight divorced.

David Schwimmer - Ross Geller

When Friends ended forever, the actor was categorical in his unwillingness to appear in TV series. He began working in film and on stage, and also voiced Melman the giraffe in the movie Madagascar. Schwimmer made his West End stage debut in the title role of Some Girl(s) in 2005, and made his Broadway debut in The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial in 2006. More than a decade after Friends ended, Schwimmer finally returned to television with Ryan Murphy's true crime series The People v. O.J. Simpson. After this role, the actor appeared in seven episodes of Will & Grace and became a sitcom star again, playing the lead role of Jerry Berstein in the British series Intelligence.

The actor secretly married British artist Zoe Bachman in 2010. In 2011, they had a daughter, Cleo, but mostly kept their relationship secret. However, the marriage lasted only 7 years and the couple divorced in 2017.

Nowadays, the actor continues to act, but mostly directs and produces.

Matthew Perry - Chandler Bing

Perhaps the actor who played the funniest character in the series is the hardest to remember. After all, Matthew's real life was not as fun as it was on the screen. While working on the series, the actor began to have a "difficult relationship" with alcohol and drugs. In 2022, Matthew published an autobiographical book in which he dared to describe the difficult path of struggle with his addiction and his victory (as he thought at the time) over it. In the book Friends, Lovers, and Big Trouble, the actor said that he spent more than $7 million trying to get sober, attended therapy twice a week for 30 years, spent time in a psychiatric hospital, and went to rehab at least 15 times. The book was published on November 1, and a year later, on October 28, 2023, the heart of the actor, who had become a public favorite, stopped.

However, it is worth mentioning that despite his difficult life and constant struggle, Matthew managed to leave a mark in the history of Hollywood - he played many roles in both films and TV series. And his colleagues on the series are still having a hard time dealing with Perry's death and are not sure how to celebrate the end of the cult series. A reunion or official meeting without Matthew is sad. But the Friends cast members are sure that Matthew would have wanted them to continue to meet and celebrate the series' anniversaries. So this is very important to them as they move forward.

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