May Diaries 12: Friends Family Trees

Okay so I wanted to do a post about the show Friends and I started writing one about what important episodes there are… but I THINK I’ve written a post like that before and it might be somewhere on this blog… so I’m going to explain their family members and connections.

Monica and Ross

Okay so this one is easy since they’re brother and sister they have the same family members.

So their parents are Judy and Jack Gellar. Who are very very into each other… They are played by Christine Taylor and Elliot Gould- and at the start of the series they’re the same age that Courtney Cox and David Schwimmer are now… which is mind blowing to me.

Ross also has an ex wife Carol that he had a son named Ben with. And he has a daughter named Emma with Rachel. Also Carol has a wife named Susan.

Other than that they show a few cousins- one played by Denise Richards and another one that didn’t invite Monica to her wedding because she was marrying one of Monica’s ex’s.

And they have a grandmother that passed away.

My favorite episodes with Ross and Monica’s

Parents are The One Where Ross Gets High, The One With The Cuffs, The One Where Rachel has a Baby, and The One With The Cake.

Rachel

Rachel has 2 sisters- Jill played by Reese Witherspoon and Amy played by Christina Applegate. Jill is only in The One With Rachel’s Sister and The One Where Chandler Can’t Cry and Amy is in The One With Rachel’s Other Sister and The One Where Rachel’s Sister Babysits.

Rachel’s parents are played by Ron Liebman- who fun fact was married to Jessica Walters aka Lucille Bluth in real life- and her mom is played by Marlo Thomas- who’s father founded St. Jude (which Jennifer Aniston advertises for). I think the only episode where the two are together is The One With The Two Parties. But my favorite individual episodes with the two are during Rachel’s pregnancy. The One With The Baby Shower- with Marlo Thomas and The One With The Stripper- with Ron Liebman. They divorce after Rachel moves in with Monica because Rachel’s mom regrets marrying her Barry after seeing Rachel make it on her own without Barry.

Joey

We only see Joey’s parents in Season 1’s The One With The Boobies where Joey’s dad cheats on Joey’s mom.

We also see his sisters in The One Where Chandler Can’t Remember Which Sister, and The One With Monica’s Boots. They always change actresses and they are different than the sister shown in Joey- the spinoff that got 2 seasons. She was played by Drea De Matteo in the spinoff- I think her name was Gina. There are 6 or 7 other sisters too… so Joey’s got a big family.

Chandler

Chandler’s mom is author Nora Bing who we see in The One With Chandler’s Mom in season 1 and the wedding episodes. And Chandler’s dad is the famous Drag Queen Helena Handbasket- played by Kathleen Turner- who is a woman with a fabulously deep voice- and he’s also only seen in Season 7’s The One With Chandler’s Dad and the wedding episodes. Nora is in The One With The Thanksgivings too. They got divorced when Chandler was 10 I think?

Phoebe

Okay- so Phoebe has a big weird family. She lives with her grandma because her mom died when she was young and her dad left her before that. She lived on the streets and she has a twin sister named Ursula who she doesn’t talk to really. She also has a half brother who has triplets that Phoebe gave birth to via surrogacy. In The One at The Beach we find out that Phoebe has a different biological mother than the mother that raised her.

Ursula never interacts with Phoebe’s birth Mother, grandmother, or her half brother.

The best episodes to watch for the family members are The One With Frank Jr, The One With The Embryo’s, The One Hundreth, The One With Two Parts and The One With The Halloween Party.

So… that is everything here! I hope you guys like it!

Bye!

-Shannon