A Friends legend has revealed the horrific backlash she received after playing a pivotal character in the beloved sitcom.
Jane Sibbett, 61, who played Ross Geller’s (David Schwimmer) ex-wife Carol Willick, said she was told to ‘burn in hell’ after her appearance in the show.
In Friends, Carol divorces Ross after realising she is a lesbian and falling in love with Susan Bunch (Jessica Hecht), who she later marries.
But before she formally ends her relationship with Ross, she becomes pregnant with their child Ben (Cole Sprouse).
Carol regularly features throughout Friends between 1994 and 2001 as she, Susan and Ross navigate co-parenting Ben.
However, reflecting on the show on its 30th anniversary, Jane said she received shocking homophobic abuse for Carol’s storyline.
She told The Sun: ‘I would say there was 95 percent support but once I had flown to Canada to shoot a Disney movie and a child was yelling at me out of a school window.
‘He was shouting, “Go home, American [homophobic slur]” and I just went, “Wow, wrong on so many levels dude. Come down here and have a conversation with me”.’
‘Then I had a woman from my old church call me up and proceeded to me that I was going to burn in hell.’
Jane previously revealed she had to stand up against her own father who disapproved of her playing a lesbian on TV.
Speaking to Australia’s TV Week, Jane explained: ‘There was suddenly a responsibility about being able to stand up against all of the people that were saying this was wrong, including my own father who had a really hard time with that.
‘I was going toe to toe with people on talk shows in America, who were saying, you know, this and this and this is the reason why you shouldn’t be doing this.’
However, Jane wanted to use the opportunity to teach others to be more accepting.
‘I would have to break things down for them,’ Jane explained. ‘I felt like it was really important for me to be super clear; love is the most important, of all the things that we could possibly do, love is the most important way forward for anybody.’
Jane also revealed she originally auditioned for Jennifer Aniston’s role, Rachel Green.
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However, she admitted that ‘no one could’ve played Rachel like Jen’, and was happy to later get a callback to play Carol, replacing Anita Barone, who played her in the first few episodes.
Jane’s other TV roles include Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Ally McBeal and The Fall Guy, while over on the big screen she has appeared in The Resurrected and It Takes Two.
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Friends is available to stream on Netflix.
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