Courteney Cox Says She Barely Remembers Filming Any of 'Friends'

This is so funny.

2009 Disney-ABC Televison Group Summer Press Tour - Arrivals
(Image credit: Getty/Michael Tran)

Courteney Cox has a "bad memory." Like, really bad—as she admitted to TODAY.

You and I both basically remember Monica Geller's every quirk, move and line on Friends, but the actress who portrayed her can barely remember any of it, apparently.

The cast of the cult show recently filmed a much-anticipated reunion, and Cox explained she really should have done her homework beforehand. "I should’ve watched all ten seasons because when I did the reunion and was asked questions, I was like, 'I don’t remember being there,'" she said. "Yeah. I don’t remember filming so many episodes."

And it wasn't nerves or anything like that; she also can't remember the show when reruns come on. "I see it on TV sometimes and I stop and go, 'Oh my God, I don’t remember this at all,'" she continued. "But it’s so funny."

Cox went on to explain why she thinks her memory plays tricks on her like that. "It’s really basic," she said. "I don’t remember any trauma in my childhood, but I have, like, three memories. I don’t know. I don't know why."

She did recall one event during the interview, when she got some insight into the kind of fame she and her fellow cast members were headed for during a trip to Vegas with Friends director Jim Burrows. "He gave us all $500," Cox said. "And he said, 'I want you to take care, like, really take notice of this moment because it will be the last time that all six of you together can walk through a casino. And we were like, 'Really?' And it was true. We never could never do that (again).

"I mean, I don’t wanna sound like, 'Look at us.' We’re not, you know, the Beatles. But people feel like they know you. If we were all to walk down the street, six of us, it would be, I think it would be really interesting to people."

Even if Cox doesn't remember filming most of Friends, she does remember how painful filming the opening credits fountain scene was. She told Ellen DeGeneres in 2021 that they had to dance in the fountain for hours, and she made it sound like a pretty awful experience. Hopefully all her other remaining memories are good ones.

Iris Goldsztajn
Morning Editor

Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Bustle and Shape. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.