Jennifer Aniston says: ‘I would proudly say I banged [David] Schwimmer if that happened’

We’re all still buzzing from the Friends reunion last month (stream now on Crave) where Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer revealed that they had mutual crushes on each other during the first season. They were adamant, however, that no funny business ever went on behind the scenes.

Shock jock Howard Stern may or may not believe that, so he decided to get to the bottom of it Wednesday when Jennifer, Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow appeared on his SiriusXM radio show. Stern is known for being no-nonsense and cutting right to the heart of the matter, and his probing questions revealed a few more juicy details from this never-realized cast member crush.

There was no banging

"Howard's not going to believe me," Jen said, adding, "No, I would proudly say I banged Schwimmer if that happened. But no."

Wow Jen, you sound just like Joey!

“He was lovely, David was great," Jen continued, "We were in relationships and it was always never the right time and it wouldn't have worked. The beauty of that was that whatever feelings we had we just literally channeled everything into Ross and Rachel and I think that's maybe why it resonated the way it did."

"But no, we never, on my life! And Courteney and Lisa would know if it did because they would've heard about it. They can vouch for me!”

“True,” Courteney chimed in. 

Brad + Jen = B.U.D.D.I.E.S.

Jen also had nothing but kind words to say about ex-husband Brad Pitt. The two of them have had a renaissance of sorts over the past few years. No, not like Bennifer, but they have publicly shown love and support for one another in a way uncommon for Hollywood exes.

First, there was their delightful backstage hug at the SAG awards in 2020 and then they did a table read of Fast Times At Ridgemont High together where they had a delightful greeting over Zoom.

"Brad and I are buddies, we're friends," she told Stern. "And we speak, and there's no oddness at all, except for everyone that probably watched it and was wanting there to be, or assumed there to be."

She’s also managed to stay besties with second husband Justin Theroux, even after their 2017 divorce. Jen is the queen of remaining friends with an ex and we need to take notes on her expertise.

Courteney’s nomination snub cuts deep

Courteney and Lisa also shared a few behind-the-scenes anecdotes from their time on the show, with Courteney revealing the hurt she faced when she was the only cast member not to receive an Emmy nomination.

“Yeah, it always hurt my feelings," she admitted. "When every single cast member was nominated but me, it definitely hurt my feelings. I was happy for everybody, and then when it was finally like, 'Oh, I'm the only one?' It hurt."

"And then the only thing that made me feel good - because they've all won and they've gotten so many accolades - I got nominated for Cougar Town the first year - a Golden Globe. And I want to say, 'Oh, who cares?' It meant everything to me," she said of her 2010 nomination.

"I wanted my peers to respect me and I know that the Golden Globes is not your peers, necessarily, but it's like, 'Ah!' It took a little of the sting out," she added.

Lisa was fired from the Frasier pilot

Lisa also shared some embarrassing moments for her, as she revealed that before Friends, she was hired and then fired by director James Burrows from Frasier in the middle of filming the 1993 pilot (she was replaced by Peri Gilpin), only to face Burrows again at her Friends audition.

“I wasn’t right for the part [or] for the chemistry of the group,” Lisa explained. “So that wasn’t working but I did think, ‘Oh, I am not this guy’s cup of tea.’”

Then when she was called to audition for Friends, she realized it was for Burrows again. “I had one extra audition just for James Burrows. I did it and he went, ‘No notes.’ I left going, that either means 'she’s beyond help and helpless, just like I always knew,’ or ‘Yeah, it’s perfect. I have no notes,’” Lisa recounted.

That, along with the offbeat Phoebe character, left her feeling a bit of the odd-man-out during the filming of the Friends pilot.

“Shooting the pilot that week I was like, ‘All right, here we go,’” she remembered. “And Phoebe was not the character that was part of this group really, that easily. There was a struggle.”

SNL vs the ladies

All three ladies shared their Saturday Night Live missteps, with Jen revealing that she turned down a chance to join the SNL cast because it was a boys-only club.

“I just had this idea that the men don't treat the women well on this show and I wouldn't want to be … the gall that I had,” she trailed off, but both Lisa and Courteney praised her on her instincts.

Lisa specifically had background knowledge of the SNL atmosphere in the early '90s because she, too, auditioned to be an SNL regular—a part that eventually went to the great Julia Sweeney.

"That was the right thing. I don't think they were seriously looking at me,” Lisa revealed.

Courteney was the first Friends castmate to host SNL, but she says now that she was too insecure at the time to really get the most out of it.

"I was green. I was not confident enough to do that show. Now I'd love to do it. No one's asking me to do it, but man I was too young," she marveled. 

Stream all 10 seasons of Friends and Friends: The Reunion anytime on Crave.