Friends star Jane Sibbett faced huge backlash playing lesbian character Carol on hit show
Jane’s character was the ex-wife of Ross Geller – played by David Schwimmer – who decided to divorce him after realising that she is a lesbian
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Friends star Jane Sibbett has revealed she faced huge backlash from viewers for playing lesbian character Carol Willick on the hit sitcom.
Jane’s character was the ex-wife of Ross Geller – played by David Schwimmer – who decided to divorce him after realising that she is a lesbian.
She then went on to fall in love with Susan all while being pregnant with Ross’ child.
But despite appearing in a whopping 15 episodes, it seems as though not everyone was pleased with Jane’s character on the hit US sitcom.
Speaking with Now To Love : “It became apparent soon after [the show premiered] 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.”
Though she admitted the support she received from the LGBTQ+ community was “amazing”, Jane said she felt a huge responsibility to convey the message that love is love to those who opposed.
She recalled: “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.”
She added: “I would have to break things down for them. And 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 from anybody.
“So, that was my biggest responsibility, to make sure that people knew that.”
It comes as Jane revealed she was initially poached for Jennifer Aniston ‘s role of Rachel Green before the show began filming.
But she was unable to take on the role as she was pregnant at the time.
She told news.com.au : “I actually was up for another character. They wanted me to be one of the main six.”
She added: “It was actually Rachel but I usually don’t tell people that because Jen … There’s no one who could’ve done it like Jen…
“I asked them (agents) if they’d told the producers I was pregnant (at the time) and they said, ‘Oh no, we thought we’d tell them later.’ And I said, ‘No, you’ve got to tell them now’.”
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