Following the astronomical success of Friends, Jennifer Aniston revealed what she had asked her boss as a treat that she probably did not exchange.
Appearing on the October 20th episode of the Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard podcast, the 56-year-old actress shared a hilarious anecdote when she asked NBC’s Warren Littlefield for home appliances, according to PEOPLE. Per the news outlet, the actress initially talked about one of the first encounters with Littlefield, who was then the president of NBC Entertainment when Friends premiered in 1994. She later shared how another meeting between the two led her to express her wish.
Talking to hosts Dax Shepard and Monica Padman, Aniston said, “Another time I said, ‘Will you please give me a washer and dryer?’ And he wrote that down on a napkin.”
Flabbergasted with the request, Shepard questioned the actress, “As part of your negotiation?”
The We’re the Millers actress clarified that she presented her request when Friends reached an epitome of success and popularity, and realized that other actors were getting “elaborate” gifts for their work.
“I just kept hearing that all these actors were getting cars and getting these things once they got hired. And Friends had happened and we were, I don’t know, at the upfronts for something”, she said.
Shepard remarked, “You wanted a congratulatory washer and dryer.”
Expressing her amazement of missing out on these treats, the American actress who starred as Rachel Green in the hit NBC sitcom from 10 years from 1994-2004, said, “I was like, ‘Why? Where’s my… Why do [these actors] get these treats for shows and stuff?’ And I said, ‘treats!’”
Shepard agreed, “Actor treats.”
Continuing with her anecdote, Aniston shared, “These elaborate, very expensive gifts. And [Littlefield] was like, ‘Well, what do you want?’ And I was like, ‘Really?’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah.’ And I couldn’t think of anything. I was like, ‘I need a washer and a dryer.’”
When host Shepard further asked, “Did he deliver?”, Aniston affirmed that her wish was fulfilled by Littlefield.
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Speaking to PEOPLE earlier this month, the actress talked about her work-life balance and shared how she was improving on ameliorating it after over 30 years since playing Rachel Green.
Aniston said, “This is another thing that I’ve gotten really good at in the last couple of years, is carving out time. Just saying to the team, ‘The month of blanky blank is off.’ We’re not going to do anything for whatever happens to be the month that would work that year.”
She added that the moment she found the right time, she would tell her team, “I’m going to take off. I’m going to have a vacation. There’s going to be no work.’ And you just kind of have to put it on your calendar.”
Aniston further expounded that she has learnt to prioritize setting aside time for rest because, “if we’re running on fumes because we are working too hard and not giving ourselves the opportunity to refuel our bodies mentally and physically, we’re useless. We’re cranky, we’re fatigued, we’re under-slept. I think that the importance of that [rest] and recharge is imperative.”
In addition to Aniston, her Friends co-stars Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc, and Matthew Perry became some of TV’s highest-paid actors, earning close to $1million per episode during the show’s final two seasons, according to US Weekly.
Speaking on The Howard Stern Show in 2021, Aniston affirmed that it’s only right that all six stars were paid equally since “we’re we’re all doing the exact same amount of work.”
She added, “I wouldn’t have felt comfortable knowing I was making more.”
Courteney Cox, who played Monica Geller in the show, chimed in, “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.”
Agreeing with her two female co-stars, Kudrow, 62, shared that earning the same amount eliminated any kind of “bitterness” amongst the cast. She added, “It was such a great relationship that is really rare and really lucky.”