‘Friends’ Star Matthew Perry Reveals Intense Anxiety Over Filming With Studio Audience

While the Friends reunion was mostly a cozy bit of nostalgia, the HBO Max special did offer a little bit of insight behind the scenes. Matthew Perry, who was fan-favorite Chandler Bing, revealed that filming episodes in front of a live studio audience caused him to suffer from pretty extreme anxiety. “To me, I felt like I was gonna die if they didn’t laugh,” he said.

“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,” Perry admitted. “I would freak out.” After Perry explained the depths of his neurosis, costar Lisa Kudrow seemed shocked, quietly saying “You didn’t tell us that.” According to Perry, he kept his struggles to himself. “Oh yeah, I felt like that every single night,” he said.

Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer also revealed that they felt romantic feelings for one another early on in filming, although they promised that they never acted on them. “The first season, we- I had a major crush on Jen,” Schwimmer said, to which Aniston replies, “It was reciprocated.” Schwimmer goes on to say: “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. So and we never crossed that boundary. We respected that.” Matt LeBlanc jokingly called “bullsh–,” but Aniston echoed the claim.

“We just channeled all of our adoration and love for each other into Ross and Rachel,” Aniston said. “I remember saying one time to David, ‘It’s gonna be such a bummer if the first time you and I actually kiss is gonna be on national television,’” she adds. “Sure enough, the first time we kissed was in that coffee shop.” Despite not being an off-screen couple, Schwimmer and Aniston admitted there were times where they would get very close to each other. “I thought back on the first year or two, you know, when we had breaks from rehearsal, there were moments when we would cuddle on the couch,” Schwimmer said, as Aniston explained, “We would spoon and fall asleep on the couch.”