Friends is television comfort food at its finest: six friends, one purple-walled apartment, the orange couch at Central Perk, and 236 episodes packed with familiar chaos. For most viewers, revisiting the sitcom means easy nostalgia, but Lisa Kudrow was hardly a regular watcher, having avoided watching herself for decades because embarrassment made the experience too uncomfortable.

After Matthew Perry’s death, however, Kudrow finally revisited Friends, and she revealed that seeing the beloved sitcom again felt remarkably like watching it for the first time, despite having starred in it.

Lisa Kudrow recently revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that she finally returned to Friends after Matthew Perry’s death, turning the sitcom into her new bedtime ritual. She had largely avoided watching herself for decades, but the experience surprised her: familiar episodes brought occasional recognition, while much of the show felt wonderfully new.

“Some things were like, ‘Oh, I remember that,’ but a lot of it I don’t remember and it was like watching it for the first time,” Kudrow told The Hollywood Reporter. The revelation came with one particularly amusing caveat: scenes without Phoebe Buffay were especially unfamiliar because Kudrow had never seen them. Apparently, missing from your own sitcom is excellent preparation for a rewatch.

Kudrow also shared with The Hollywood Reporter how she found herself appreciating just how good her former co-stars were, even catching up with David Schwimmer about the experience. She had recently apologized to Schwimmer for joking that Ross Geller was a terrible boyfriend on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Schwimmer laughed it off, but Kudrow had another verdict after re-watching the show: everyone was really, really good.

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Now that Lisa Kudrow has finally broken her Friends-re-watching drought, the question practically writes itself: have the rest of the cast actually watched the show that once scared Hollywood stars?

Lisa Kudrow is not alone in having a complicated relationship with Friends. Courteney Cox famously binge-watched all 10 seasons during lockdown after realizing she remembered surprisingly little of the sitcom, while David Schwimmer stayed away for years until his daughter discovered it and her laughter made the show feel fresh again.

Jennifer Aniston also rarely revisited the series beyond occasional reruns, finding later viewings intensely nostalgic, particularly after Matthew Perry’s death. Matt LeBlanc has caught episodes here and there and still remembers the laughs fondly, while Matthew Perry avoided the sitcom because seeing his changing appearance reminded him painfully of his addiction struggles. Together, their stories show that even its own stars experienced Friends very differently.

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Has Lisa Kudrow's Friends re-watching experience prompted you to re-watch it as well? Let us know in the comments!