Before making her cameo appearance in season 6, Jennifer Aniston shared a piece of surprising advice with Reese Witherspoon before she filmed her role for the hit sitcom series. Witherspoon appeared in season 6, episode 14, "", of the NBC show in February 2000. In the episode, the actress portrayed Jill, the sister of Aniston's Rachel Green, who is soon caught up in Rachel and Ross's (David Schwimmer) complex, on-again-off-again relationship that lasted throughout the original 10-season run of the series from 1994 to 2006.
During a recent appearance on ahead of the release of, Witherspoon reflected on her brief role on , sharing a story about her first day on the set of the show.
Witherspoon admitted that she was incredibly nervous about her appearance on the show ahead of filming. Despite this, Aniston helped the star by telling her to not worry about messing up, stating that it might actually be best if she made a mistake. Check out Witherspoon's full recollection below:
Oh, my gosh, yeah. So, I was terrified. I was out of my body. I was - My body was there, and then my head and my brain was somewhere else. I just had a baby, yeah. So, that's how I know it was 23 years ago, because, now, my baby is 23, But walking into Central Perk, that main coffee place, and sitting on the couch, I was like, "Oh, my God, I can't believe this is happening. Oh my God, there's Joey. Oh, my God." And then wait, and then Joey said to me "How you doing?" - It was so fun. It was so - I was terrified, but Aniston was so sweet to me. She was like, "They don't care if you mess up. They actually like it better when you mess up.
Witherspoon is one of many famous faces to make an appearance on as a relative of or someone closely tied to the core group of characters. Across its 10-season run, , Giovanni Ribisi, and Christina Applegate made appearances as characters with close ties to Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow), Rachel, Ross, Chandler (Matthew Perry), Monica (Courteney Cox), and Joey (Matt LeBlanc). Rudd's role as Mike Hannigan would even see him become a pivotal character in the series, as he would become Phoebe's love interest and ultimately her third and final husband in the final season of the show.
Beyond guest stars appearing in as family members, a number of notable actors appeared in the series in smaller, one-off roles across the show's run. Actors such as George Clooney, Gabrielle Union, Jon Favreau, and as love interests who would become briefly entangled in the lives of the group for single episode appearances. Other notable stars such as Danny DeVito, Jeff Goldblum, Bruce Willis, and Gary Oldman made memorable and stand-out appearances in the show, with Oldman playing an actor who works alongside Joey on the set of a World War I movie.
Witherspoon's appearance on is among the show's most notable guest stars with her role as the financially irresponsible Jill in the season 6 episode. Despite Witherspoon being an established star by the time she appeared, many viewers may be surprised that the star felt apprehensive about performing in front of a live-recording audience. However, it is clear 's advice helped Witherspoon feel at ease on set, resulting in one of the series' memorable family dynamics.
