Friends’ Jessica Hecht Thinks She Lost The Role Of Monica Due To Her Size

It’s hard to imagine anyone other than Courteney Cox playing the iconic role of Monica Geller on Friends, but that apparently almost happened. In a June 14 interview with Parade, Friends star Jessica Hecht, who played Susan Bunch, revealed that she initially auditioned for Monica, and thinks she didn’t land the part due to her size.

“I was out in Los Angeles, and my agent said, ‘Oh, I sent your picture in to this casting director for Friends. There’s one part, they’re not sure if the actor will take. They want to still look at some other actors, and I think she knows you from high school,’” Hecht recalled about her audition. “So I went in, mostly excited to see Ellie Kanner, and then they started to read me for Monica.”

As fans know, Cox eventually took the part and played Monica for all 10 seasons of Friends, which Hecht thinks was the correct choice. However, she also suspects that she was passed over for the role due to her physical differences from the rest of the core cast.

“I think looking at me back then, I’m tall and I just had a bigger size than the rest,” she said. “Now I look at it, and I think how perfect Courteney was, I would have been more of a Lisa [Kudrow], just physically and energetically.”

How Jessica Ended Up On Friends

While she didn’t land Monica, Hecht clearly made an impression in the audition room, as she went on to get cast as Susan Bunch, the new wife of Ross Geller’s (David Schwimmer) ex Carol (Jane Sibbett). She made her debut in the second episode and would eventually guest star in 13 episodes over the first six seasons.

Hecht recalled the show’s beginnings fondly to Parade, stating that she had “more creativity” and trusted her gut more when playing Susan. “In Friends, it’s not that it was casual, but the show was not iconic by any stretch,” she said. “The actors were awesome, but nobody had that confidence yet, so it was a very delicious time.”

However, she wasn’t entirely happy with how her character developed over time. “They just couldn’t figure out how to make Susan work,” she said, “Because they — well, it’s terrible. But they just wanted a lesbian that didn’t look exactly like lesbians had previously, let’s be honest. Use your imagination. They’re wonderful. They come in all sizes.”