the “Friends” cast still makes quite a bit from reruns. Of course, they sacrificed much of their personal privacy in the process, and David Schwimmer has been one of the most outspoken about the negative side of mega-stardom.
In a Guardian interview, the actor recalled how prior to the show’s debut, director and sitcom legend James Burrows took the cast to Las Vegas and tried to warn them of the coming onslaught. “We were walking through the casino at one point,” Schwimmer recalled, “and [Burrows] said to us, ‘Remember this moment, it’s the last time you’re going to be able to walk through a casino like this’ — basically, with total anonymity.” Burrows couldn’t have been more right; as he was boarding a plane home from Vegas, Schwimmer remembered getting swarmed by a group of women who “grabbed” him and “wouldn’t let go.”
Ever since, the Ross actor has taken multiple opportunities to comment on what he sees as fans and press overstepping their bounds, describing what it’s been like for the cast to endure. In the 2021 “Friends” reunion special, he spoke about the unique experience of becoming so well-known so quickly. “The fact is, no one was going through what we were going through except the other five,” he explained. “Our family couldn’t relate, our friends, our closest friends couldn’t relate. But, the only other people who really knew what it was like were the other five.” None of this is to say Schwimmer was disappointed to have landed “Friends,” especially considering he had been paying his dues for some time prior to the show’s debut. Even in the months before “Friends” first aired, Schwimmer had co-starred in another sitcom that probably had him praying for that kind of success.
