Friends fans shocked after discovering Jennifer Aniston once dated on-screen love interest before show
Friends fans are only just realising that Jennifer Aniston was in a relationship with one of her on-screen love interests years before he starred in the sit-com.
Can you believe it’s been more than two decades since Friends left our screens?
Despite their years away, characters Rachel, Ross, Monica, Joey, Chandler and Phoebe remain just as beloved as when they debuted in the 1994 pilot episode, ‘The One Where Monica Gets a Roommate’.
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And of course, the tragic death of Matthew Perry last year continues to leave fans grieving when they re-watch the hilarious sitcom.
Since exiting the NBC-broadcasted programme ended in 2004, Rachel Green actress Aniston, 55, has gone on to win roles in Bruce Almighty and Marley & Me, as well as TV shows Cougar Town and The Morning Show.
Meanwhile, she’s famously dated the likes of Vince Vaughn and John Meyer as well as saying ‘I do’ to former husbands Brad Pitt and Justin Theroux.
But did you know she was also once involved with a Friends co-star?
Cast your mind back to the season four episode ‘The One With Rachel’s Crush’, where the Bloomingdales personal shopper becomes attracted to a recent divorcee.
After a series of false starts, the pair began dating, only for the man to be scared away when Rachel answered the door to her apartment wearing a wedding dress.
Of course, we’re talking about Friends star Joshua Burgin, portrayed by actor and Aniston’s ex-partner Tate Donovan.
Prior to starring in a handful of Friends episodes together, Donovan, now 60, and Aniston were in a three-year relationship.
It was previously claimed the duo had met on the set of the comedy - a rumour the Argo actor put to bed in an interview with US Weekly.
“The people that know that we dated think that we met on Friends, but in fact we had dated for two years before then, and it was over by the time we were on Friends together."
Despite appearing on the programme in 1998, fans are only just realising Donovan and Aniston’s prior connection now.
Taking to Reddit, one fan wrote: “I apologise if this was already common knowledge - I genuinely had no idea and thought it was pretty interesting.”
“I always thought his character didn’t even really seem to like her, guess this explains why,” remarked a second one.
Someone else said: “That makes Jenny a very good actress. In the show she really sold Rachel’s affection for Joshua.”
“I only learned about this a few weeks ago, weirdly enough,” penned another fan. “Makes sense why they had such awkward chemistry.”
Speaking to PEOPLE in 1997, Donovan - who dated Aniston between 1995 and 1998 - admitted he wanted to tie the knot with the Murder Mystery favourite.
“I definitely want to get married; she definitely wants to get married,” he said at the time. “There are no proposals or anything, not yet, but we definitely think about it.”
But by the time Donovan landed himself the role of Burgin, the pair had gone their separate ways.
“I was just happy to be on the team,” he recounted in 2018.
“The only bummer was Jennifer and I were breaking up at the time. And so that was tricky to sort of act, and act like we are just meeting each other, and falling in love, or whatever, interested in each other, when we’re sort of breaking up. That was just tough.”
Despite working with Aniston after their break-up, the New Jersey native claimed his co-stars were ‘amazing’ and ‘really cool’ regarding their history.
“In other words, they were just compassionate, very compassionate about the whole breakup.”
Following his split from Aniston in 1998, Donovan went on to marry actress Corinne Kingsbury in 2005.
The pair divorced in 2008 and the Primetime Emmy Award-winning producer is now wed to Corry Scheuerman.
Topics: Friends, Jennifer Aniston, Sex and Relationships, Celebrity, TV And Film, Entertainment
Ella Scott