Back in the late ‘90s, you’d be hard-pressed to find a celebrity more worthy of emulation than Jennifer Aniston. She was one of the stars of Friends, which we knew even back then would be one of the most beloved sitcoms of all time; she was dating Brad Pitt, perhaps the biggest movie star at the time; and she had the hairstyle so popular, it was just known by her famous character’s name. The Rachel. Nobody escaped The Rachel. Not even Reese Witherspoon, who would go on to guest star on Friends as Rachel’s sister, was able to get through the decade without succumbing to the trend, and there is photographic evidence.
Reese Witherspoon appeared on two Season 6 episodes of Friends as Rachel’s sister Jill (not to be confused with an equally iconic guest appearance from Christina Applegate as the “other sister” Amy). But a year before Jill swooped in and tried to steal Ross by pretending to enjoy his science slideshows, the actress was already trying to steal something else from her TV sister. Check out a recent pic from Witherspoon’s Instagram Stories:
This is absolutely magical. Did she even know at the time that she would soon be playing Jennifer Aniston’s sister on the show that inspired that haircut? Reese Witherspoon definitely couldn’t have predicted back then that two decades later, she and Aniston would be executive producing and co-starring in the popular Apple TV+ series The Morning Show.
What may be more predictable is that The Rachel is coming back into style. Trends do have a tendency to come back around, and Rachel Green’s just-longer-than-shoulder-length layered bob is apparently hitting the mark with Gen Z. Hell, even Kourtney Kardashian was rocking The Rachel just a few months ago, while Megan Fox took on the slightly harder task of trying to bring back the side part.
Jennifer Aniston said she’s fascinated that the ‘do is resonating with a new generation, but admits to falling in and out of love with it over the years. So would it be too much to hope that Season 3 of The Morning Show will feature Alex and Bradley sporting the iconic hairstyle? Probably so, since Alex and Bradley get along about as well as Rachel and Jill did.
Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, however, appear to get along famously in real life, and they still seem to cherish the short time they spent together on Friends. The Little Fires Everywhere star shared an adorable video to Instagram earlier this year, in which she and her TV sis recreated one of their scenes together:
Classic. I love that Reese Witherspoon didn’t just remember her line but was able to help Jennifer Aniston with the set-up. While we wait for an update regarding where The Morning Show’s third season will fall on the 2023 TV schedule, you can make sure your Apple TV+ subscription is up to date, and catch up on old episodes of Friends with your HBO Max subscription.
