Jennifer Aniston had a modest request for her bosses at NBC amid Friends’ astronomical success: a new washer and dryer.
The actress, who played Rachel Green on the hit sitcom from 1994 to 2004, told Dax Shepard on the Monday, October 20, episode of the “Armchair Expert” podcast that she asked for the home appliance after learning actors on other hit TV shows got extravagant gifts from their networks.
“I said, ‘Will you please give me a washer and dryer, and he wrote that on a napkin,’” she recalled of a conversation with former NBC Entertainment president Warren Littlefield, under whom NBC found success with hit shows including Friends, ER, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Frasier, Will & Grace and The West Wing.
Aniston continued, “I just kept hearing that all these actors were getting cars and getting these things once they got hired. Friends had happened and we were at the [NBC] upfronts or something.”
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“I was like, ‘Why do these actors get these treats for shows and stuff?’ And I said, ‘Treats! Actor treats!’” the actress continued, adding that she heard other actors got “these gifts — these elaborate, very expensive gifts.”
To Aniston’s surprise, Littlefield asked her what she wanted as a treat. “I was like, ‘Really?’ and he was like, ‘Yeah,’ and I couldn’t think of anything,” Aniston, 56, shared. “And I was like, ‘I need a washer and a dryer.’”
The Emmy winner got her wish as she confirmed to Shepard that Littlefield had a new washer and dryer delivered to her.
As well as a new washer and dryer, Friends helped Aniston and her costars — Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and the late Matthew Perry — become some of TV’s highest paid stars as they earned approximately $1 million per episode during the show’s final two seasons.
During a 2021 interview on The Howard Stern Show, Aniston said it was only right that all six stars received the same pay because “we’re all doing the exact same amount of work.”
“I wouldn’t have felt comfortable knowing I was making more,” she added.
Cox, 61, said, “We all felt that way. I thought it was the most important thing — as we all did— that we all were equal in every single way. That was the first time that people had all stuck together in a cast. I think it was scary, probably, for productions after that.”
Kudrow, 62, said that earning the same salary per episode “just got rid of bitterness” between the six core cast members. “It was such a great relationship that is really rare and really lucky,” she added.
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The Friends cast was famously close-knit during the show’s 10-year run and still remain tight to this day.
“I think Courteney had a lot to do with it too, because she was the most well-known,” Kudrow told Stern of their bond. “When we got there, she was like, ‘Let’s help each other if you think something’s funny, let’s give each other notes.’”
“It was healing. We actually kind of parented and healed and loved each other,” Aniston said.
