Courteney Cox reveals why she turned down Rachel Green role in Friends

Did you know that Courteney Cox was originally lined up for the role of Rachel Green in Friends?

At the start, the actress was offered the part but rejected it – wanting to play Monica Geller instead. Jennifer Aniston would, of course, go on to be cast as Rachel.

Now, Courteney has been talking about why she rejected Rachel for Monica.

“For some reason, I thought I related more to Monica, which maybe it’s because I do,” she told Off Camera with Sam Jones. “I’m very similar to her.

“I’m not as clean as Monica, but I am neat.

“And I’m not as competitive, even though some people, my partner Johnny McDaid, would say I am.”

It turned out to be a genius move in the end, because we can’t imagine Courteney as Rachel at all (aside from the whole ick factor of Monica’s brother Ross being in love with Rachel).

And Courteney – not surprisingly – had high praise for everybody who was involved in the hugely popular sitcom.

“That was lightning in a bottle, to have those writers, those creators of the show, and the team they put together, and the actors,” she said. “It just worked.

“I mean, the casting was perfect. It really was.”

Fans have been calling for a Friends reunion, but it doesn’t look like it will happen.

Lisa Kudrow, who played Phoebe, recently said that she didn’t think any reunion centred on a group of settled middle-aged people would work.

“The thing we liked best about the show was that they were 20-somethings and they were their own family,” she said.

“Now, they all have families, so what are we going to watch?”