After 29 years, the biggest debate among Friends fans has finally been settled. Lisa Kudrow, who played Phoebe Buffay on the iconic sitcom, has weighed in on whether Ross and Rachel were really 'on a break' when Ross slept with the girl from the copy place. Appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Kudrow emphatically said no—and went further, calling Ross a bad boyfriend.
'Well, no,' Kudrow said as the live audience gasped. 'But it's beyond that. It's beyond “break or not.” He was a bad boyfriend.' The 62-year-old actress continued to cheers from the audience, adding that Rachel should never have gotten back together with him. 'To me, it's like, I don't care if he slept with three other women or no other women. You had a crisis at work, so you weren't available for a few nights, and he flipped out? Wow.'
Fallon agreed, saying, 'Someone finally said it. Yeah, he was a bad boyfriend.' When asked if she had spoken to David Schwimmer about her opinion, Kudrow smiled, and Fallon told the audience, 'He knows now.'
This revelation comes after Kudrow previously shared that Friends writers would stay 'up late discussing sexual fantasies' about cast members. In an interview with The Sunday Times, she recalled mean behavior behind the scenes, including writers harshly reacting if jokes didn't land. 'If you messed up one of these writers' lines or it didn't get the perfect response they could be like, “Can't the b**** f***ing read? She's not even trying. She f***ed up my line,”' Kudrow said. She added that much of the behavior didn't happen in front of the cast, but they were aware of it. 'We know that back in the room the guys would be up late discussing their sexual fantasies about Jennifer and Courteney. It was intense.'
The debate over Ross and Rachel's break has divided fans for decades, but Kudrow's take has finally put the matter to rest—at least for now. Friends is available to stream on HBO Max.
