15 little-known secrets about Rachel Green even die-hard ‘Friends’ fans may not remember

On “The One With the Home Study,” Ross (David Schwimmer) wants to take his and Rachel’s daughter, Emma, to a playground.

Rachel is appalled by the suggestion and doesn’t want Emma to go because of her own traumatic experience on the swings as a child.

She explains that she had to cut her hair out of the chain on the swings, and she was left with an uneven hairstyle for weeks.

On “The One Where Rachel Smokes,” Rachel realizes she’s missing out on the conversations her new work colleagues have during smoke breaks.

She tries to start smoking to be included but instead tells her coworkers that she’s working on quitting.

Other than Chandler (Matthew Perry), Rachel is the only other member of the main friend group who is seen smoking on the show.

On “The One With the Ball,” Rachel buys an expensive hairless cat.

She doesn’t have the cat for long because it’s aggressive and Rachel gets tired of the hissing.

Rachel ends up selling the cat to Gunther, who buys it hoping that Rachel will want to visit.

Rachel finds out that her dog, LaPooh, died on “The One With the Kips.”

Ross is surprised by the news because he remembers the dog from high school.

LaPooh apparently lived a rather long life but died after being hit by an ice-cream truck.

It’s hard to imagine anyone but Aniston playing Rachel, but the iconic role almost went to another “Friends” actor: Cox.

Cox chose to play Monica instead, and Aniston was later cast as Rachel.

Aniston was also the last of the main friend group actors to be cast.

Plenty of the friends in the main crew have kissed each other, but Rachel is the only one who has kissed every person in the group.

She kissed Ross and Joey while dating them, and the flashback scene revealed that she made out with Chandler at a party.

Rachel kissed Monica off-screen on “The One With All the Haste” to get their apartment back from Chandler and Joey, and she kissed Phoebe on “The One With Rachel’s Big Kiss.”

On “The One With Joey’s New Girlfriend,” Gunther asks Rachel when her birthday is and she tells him it’s May 5.

That birthday makes her a Taurus, but a cop who pulls her over says that she’s an Aquarius on “The One with Chandler’s Dad.”

This seems to be a continuity mistake, although it’s possible that Rachel just didn’t correct the cop when he remarked on her zodiac sign.

Phoebe wants Rachel to move back in with her on “The One With the Holiday Armadillo,” so she tries to make her hate Joey’s apartment.

But when Phoebe gives Joey a pet tarantula and drums, Rachel isn’t bothered.

When Rachel realizes what Phoebe was trying to do, she tells her that if she wanted to scare her, Phoebe should’ve bought Joey a fish instead, which Rachel apparently finds scarier than spiders.

This story was originally published in July 2021 and most recently updated on September 24, 2024.