The popular sitcom Friends premiered on September 22, 1994, and aired ten seasons with an astounding 236 episodes during its ten-year run. Decades later actress Jane Sibbett, who infamously portrayed a lesbian character recalls how the role caused mayhem in her personal life. “It caused stress in my own family,” Sibbett exclusively told The Sun. “We had a big situation with my father who wouldn’t watch the show. Then I had a woman from my old church call me up and proceeded to me that I was going to burn in hell,” she shockingly revealed.
According to Bustle, a groundbreaking episode of Friends aired in 1996 and was immediately banned. Titled ‘The One with the Lesbian Wedding,’ the plot followed the marriage of Jessica Hecht’s character, Susan, who would become Ross’s future wife, and Jane Sibbett’s character, Carol, Ross’s ex-wife. The Season 2 episode was banned from airing by American network affiliates; this happened almost twenty years before the U.S. Supreme Court declared that gay marriage was acceptable in all fifty states. As the sitcom celebrates its 30th anniversary of debuting on television, Sibbett stated that the ensemble had “lightning in a bottle” and that she could never have imagined the show’s continuing success.
“I would say there was 95 percent support but once I had flown to Canada to shoot a Disney movie and a child was yelling at me out of a school window.” She continued “He was shouting, ‘Go home, American f*g’ and I just went, ‘Wow, wrong on so many levels dude. Come down here and have a conversation with me’.”
“It caused stress in my own family. It was heartbreaking that he wouldn’t watch it. He would hold a bible study group at the time it aired to ensure his friends wouldn’t see it either.” Sibbett added, “It took my godfather writing a letter to him saying how proud he was of me for the wedding scene that cracked it for my father. He thought, ‘Wait, I’m not going to be judged for this and it can help people.’ It was great for that wound to be healed before my dad passed.”
The Just in Time actress also revealed that she had just given birth when she was called in for the role. It happened after Anita Barone, who played the original Carol in the pilot, left because she purportedly didn’t think her role was significant enough. She recalled: “I’m like, ‘I just delivered a baby. I’m kind of sore, I had a 24-hour labor, he was a big boy.’ But they said, ‘No, no, don’t worry they’ll make it super easy.’”
She confessed to signing up for her part because of being “blown away by how incredibly funny David Schwimmer was” after watching the pilot episode. She added: “I’m so grateful to have been given the part, no one could have played Rachel better than Jennifer, and Carol was such a healthy role model.” “It was groundbreaking for a lesbian character on TV but also for how Carol and Ross handled divorce and co-parenting without fighting. It was a gift,” Sibbett said.
The endearing moments between David and Jane when Jane’s character came out and her affair with future wife Susan was exposed served as an inspiration to many. Very few people are aware that she first auditioned for the role of Rachel Green, which Jennifer Aniston later made famous. Her agent told her: “They love you, love you, love you, and want you back for the screen test.” However, Sibbett was pregnant and had told the producers she would “love to play the lesbian part if they needed someone.”
