Throughout television history, there have been very few sitcoms that have truly managed to become sensations. As a result, the few series that have accomplished that feat continue to be respected a long time after they went off the air. That said, even though some people still love watching shows like M.A.S.H., Happy Days, and All In the Family, none of those series are very relevant anymore. On the other hand, almost two decades after Friends’ finale aired for the first time, the show remains one of the most beloved and talked about sitcoms in the world.
Given the fact that Friends was and remains extremely popular, it seems pretty clear that playing a small role in the show’s history is a boon to the career of its many guest stars. As it turns out, however, after one famous person guest-starred in an episode of Friends, their appearance in the show directly led to some serious drama for them.
Guest Star Experiences
During Friends’ 10 seasons run, an incredibly long list of famous people appeared in the show. For example, major stars like Charlie Sheen, Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn, Reese Witherspoon, George Clooney, Helen Hunt, Jeff Goldblum, and Brad Pitt all showed up in an episode. Unlike some shows that have a lot of guest stars to try and attract an audience through stunt casting, Friends didn’t need the help to remain a hit. With that in mind, it isn’t surprising that most Friends guest stars were great since they were seemingly hired because they fit their roles.
Fortunately, the vast majority of famous people who guest-starred in Friends seemingly enjoyed their experience working on the show. On the other hand, one acting legend has been very open that she disliked working with Friends’ main cast. Sadly, that star wasn’t the only Friends guest star who had a bad experience because of the beloved sitcom.
The Drama
As everyone already knows, the Super Bowl is one of the biggest events in television every year. As a result, it is a really big deal when the network that is airing the game chooses which show to air immediately after the Super Bowl. Given the fact that Friends was one of the most successful shows on television at the time, it was decided that a new two-part episode of the beloved sitcom would air after the Super Bowl in 1996.
Even though Friends was a big enough deal in 1996 that the show didn’t need to resort to gimmicks, the people behind the show recruited several guest stars for the two-part Super Bowl episode. Looking back, it is pretty amazing that Julia Roberts, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Brooke Shields, Fred Willard, Chris Isaak, and Dan Castellaneta all appeared in the two-part Friends episode.
When the post-Super Bowl two-part episode of Friends aired, Brooke Shields was in a relationship with the tennis superstar Andre Agassi. Ultimately, Shields and Agassi would get married in 1997, the year after that episode aired, and then have their divorce finalized in 1999. In 2015, Shields published a memoir that included several revelations about her fascinating life. Considering that Shields rose to fame after starring in a very controversial jeans commercial at a young age, people may have assumed that time in her life resulted in the most interesting part of her memoir. However, one of the most amazing passages in her book is the section in which Shields revealed what happened after her episode of Friends aired.
As most avid Friends fans will no doubt remember, when Shields guest-starred in Friends, she played a woman that Joey went on a date with even though she was his stalker. Due to her extreme devotion to Joey, Shields’ character did many erratic things including sucking on his finger. Unfortunately for Shields, she revealed in her memoir that her fiancé at the time, Andre Agassi, lost it when he saw her Friends character suck Joey’s finger since he felt it “made him look a fool”.
On top of verbally berating Brooke Shields due to the finger-licking scene, Andre Agassi destroyed many of his own prized possessions according to what she revealed in her memoir. “Upon arrival he systematically smashed and destroyed every single trophy he had won, including Wimbledon and the US Open, never mind all the others.”
Of course, it is horrible that Shields had to deal with someone losing it like that simply because she was doing her job. On the bright side, Sheilds says that because of her Friends performance, she was hired to star in her successful sitcom, Suddenly Susan. "No one had ever seen me in that light before. It was because of my Friends episode that NBC wanted to do a show with me as the lead. Had it not been for that crazy part, I don't think anybody necessarily would've known that was what I love to do more than anything."
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