Jennifer Aniston was told to lose 30lbs before she landed the role of a lifetime as Rachel Green in Friends in 1994. The actress was struggling to make it in Hollywood, and a new book set to dive into the secret of the show on its 25th anniversary reveals that Jennifer was told by her agent she wasn’t getting jobs because she was ‘too heavy’. ‘She had to lose thirty pounds if she wanted to stay in Hollywood,’
In 1996 however, in a Rolling Stone article, Jennifer admitted that her diet was terrible and that she lived off milkshakes, French fries with gravy and mayonnaise sandwiches.
She said:
“My agent gave it to me straight. Nicest thing he ever did… The disgusting thing of Hollywood – I wasn’t getting lots of jobs ’cause I was too heavy.” Despite the harsh words, the Rachel Green actress admitted she has been thankful that the comments made her change her diet. She said: “I was like, ‘What?!’ But my diet was terrible. Milkshakes and French fries with gravy. It was a good thing to start paying attention.”
Saul Austerlitz writes in his book, Generation Friends: An Inside Look at the Show That Defined a Television Era. ‘Los Angeles was a tough place to be an actress — it was a tough place to be a woman — and Jennifer Aniston’s agent was reluctantly levelling with her.’ He added: ‘Aniston was hardly fat — everyone could see she was beautiful — but as the show she would one day become indelibly associated with later made a point of noting, the camera added ten pounds.’
