There Was One Scene Deemed Too “Controversial” for ‘Friends’

Remember that episode of Friends when Ross’ (David Schwimmer) ex-wife Susan married her life partner Carol? Don’t feel bad if you don’t, as the actresses who portrayed the lesbian couple have revealed that their wedding scene was actually banned in several countries!

Jane Sibbett, who played Susan, and Jessica Hecht, who played Carol, revealed the shocking news on British talk show ITV Lorraine. “It was the first lesbian wedding to ever be shown on TV and they blocked it out in some affiliates,” Jane said. “But it all worked out as we got so much press because they blocked it. We actually won awards for that storyline!” The actresses revealed that they won GLAAD awards for their ground-breaking scene on the nineties sitcom, an accolade given to them by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

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Jane said she remembers meeting a man at one of the award ceremonies and being blown away by the importance he placed on Carol and Susan’s relationship. “I remember meeting a man at one awards ceremony that was held by an organization that works with gay families,” Jane recalled.

“He said to me that if he’d had Carol and Susan as role models when he was a young boy, he probably wouldn’t have tried to [die by] suicide so many times. I hadn’t even thought of that.” The two ladies have come back together 23 years after they first appeared on Friends to attend FriendsFest, a festival which celebrates all things Friends in London.

After all this time, do Jane and Jessica think that a Friends reunion could happen? “In our dreams,” Jane said. We’ll take that as a no then…

This post was written by Alex McCarthy. It originally appeared on our sister site, Now to Love.