Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer reveal they had feelings for each other during Friends

Friends fans may need to go on a break themselves to process their emotions during the new reunion special.

The cast of Friends reunited for the highly-anticipated special that debuted Thursday on HBO Max, during which David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston opened up about having real feelings for each other while playing Ross and Rachel. Their comments came when James Corden asked if there were any off-screen romances among the cast.

"The first season, I had a major crush on Jen," Schwimmer revealed, and Aniston chimed in, "It was reciprocated."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up

"At some point, we were both crushing hard on each other," Schwimmer added. "But it was like two ships passing because one of us was always in a relationship, and we never crossed that boundary."

In fact, Aniston recalled telling Schwimmer it would be "such a bummer" if their first kiss ended up being on national television, which is ultimately what happened.

"We just channeled all of our adoration and love for each other into Ross and Rachel," Aniston said.

Schwimmer also remembered that early on during Friends, there were moments when he and Aniston would "cuddle on a couch" together during breaks, leading him to wonder in retrospect, "How did not everyone know we were crushing on each other?" His co-stars had the answer. "We knew," Matthew Perry and Courteney Cox immediately responded. Cox added that it's "great" they didn't act on their feelings, though, "Because if you had, and it didn't work out, it would not have probably been as great."

The rest of the reunion saw the cast revisit favorite moments from the series with the help of some celebrity guests — including Lady Gaga performing a rendition of "Smelly Cat" — and by the end, Cox reflected on this as being the "last time" they'll ever be "asked about the show as a group" like this. Could we be any more emotional?