15 little-known secrets about Rachel Green even die-hard ‘Friends’ fans may not remember

Though it’s unclear exactly where Rachel went to college or what she studied, we know she was in a sorority.

On “The One With Rachel’s Big Kiss,” Rachel runs into her former sorority sister Melissa (Winona Ryder) and has dinner with her and Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow).

On “The One With the Home Study,” Ross (David Schwimmer) wants to take his and Rachel’s daughter, Emma, to a playground.

Rachel is appalled by the suggestion and doesn’t want Emma to go because of her own traumatic experience on the swings as a child.

She explains that she had to cut her hair out of the chain on the swings, and she was left with an uneven hairstyle for weeks.

Rachel and Phoebe decide to get tattoos together on “The One Where Joey Moves Out.”

Phoebe chickens out before actually getting her tattoo, but Rachel gets a small heart on her hip.

The tattoo doesn’t seem to be shown or mentioned again after this episode.

On “The One Where Rachel Smokes,” Rachel realizes she’s missing out on the conversations her new work colleagues have during smoke breaks.

She tries to start smoking to be included but instead tells her coworkers that she’s working on quitting.

Other than Chandler (Matthew Perry), Rachel is the only other member of the main friend group who is seen smoking on the show.

When Rachel’s eye is bothering her, Monica (Courteney Cox) accompanies her to the eye doctor on “The One With Joey’s Big Break.”

Rachel doesn’t like having her eyes touched, which makes the examination difficult.

The doctor prescribes her eye drops, but Rachel is unable to use them herself. The rest of the gang ends up holding her down to administer the drops.

On “The One With the Ball,” Rachel buys an expensive hairless cat.

She doesn’t have the cat for long because it’s aggressive and Rachel gets tired of the hissing.

Rachel ends up selling the cat to Gunther, who buys it hoping that Rachel will want to visit.

Rachel and Monica both looked very different in high school.

Episodes with flashback scenes show that Rachel had a completely different look because she had a nose job as a teenager.

Rachel finds out that her dog, LaPooh, died on “The One With the Kips.”

Ross is surprised by the news because he remembers the dog from high school.

LaPooh apparently lived a rather long life but died after being hit by an ice-cream truck.

Rachel’s early haircut is an iconic part of 1990s fashion, but Aniston told Glamour in 2015 she didn’t like the look.

She said it was too difficult to maintain and isn’t something that matches her personal style.

During the later seasons of the show, Rachel’s hairstyle changed to a longer look.

It’s hard to imagine anyone but Aniston playing Rachel, but the iconic role almost went to another “Friends” actor: Cox.

Cox chose to play Monica instead, and Aniston was later cast as Rachel.

Aniston was also the last of the main friend group actors to be cast.

A flashback on “The One Where The Stripper Cries” revealed that Rachel kissed Chandler at a college party she attended while she was still in high school. 

She doesn’t start dating Ross until she’s out of college. This means that her first kiss with a member of the friend group is with Chandler.

Plenty of the friends in the main crew have kissed each other, but Rachel is the only one who has kissed every person in the group.

She kissed Ross and Joey while dating them, and the flashback scene revealed that she made out with Chandler at a party.

Rachel kissed Monica off-screen on “The One With All the Haste” to get their apartment back from Chandler and Joey, and she kissed Phoebe on “The One With Rachel’s Big Kiss.”

Rachel’s sisters both visit her separately during the series.

The first sister shown is Jill (Reese Witherspoon) on “The One With Rachel’s Sister.” After Emma is born, Rachel’s other sister, Amy (Christina Applegate), visits on “The One With Rachel’s Other Sister.”

Both sisters are on two episodes, but Amy and Jill are never in an episode together.

On “The One With Joey’s New Girlfriend,” Gunther asks Rachel when her birthday is and she tells him it’s May 5.

That birthday makes her a Taurus, but a cop who pulls her over says that she’s an Aquarius on “The One with Chandler’s Dad.”

This seems to be a continuity mistake, although it’s possible that Rachel just didn’t correct the cop when he remarked on her zodiac sign.

Phoebe wants Rachel to move back in with her on “The One With the Holiday Armadillo,” so she tries to make her hate Joey’s apartment.

But when Phoebe gives Joey a pet tarantula and drums, Rachel isn’t bothered.

When Rachel realizes what Phoebe was trying to do, she tells her that if she wanted to scare her, Phoebe should’ve bought Joey a fish instead, which Rachel apparently finds scarier than spiders.

This story was originally published in July 2021 and most recently updated on September 24, 2024.