Jennifer Aniston branded Friends the “gift of a lifetime” as she paid tribute to the “iconic” series and its cast during a heartfelt but hilarious awards show speech.
The actor, who played Rachel Green in the hit sitcom, was honoured with the Icon award at the 49th People’s Choice Awards in the US on Sunday night.
As Jen took to the stage to accept the award, she said: “Thank you for this incredible honour. This town throws out a lot of awards, but the People’s Choice, this has always been special to me.”
She joked: “As actors, we don’t do this for critics or for each other, or to make our families proud, you know? We do this for the money.
“No, I’m just kidding, we do it for you guys, we really do. None of us could do what we do if it was not for all of you, and you all have been so good to me.”
Jennifer went on: “When I first heard that I’d won this icon award, the first thing I thought was ’Holy shite, have I been around this long?!′ Turns out I have.
“But If I have any claim to this word ‘icon’, it’s only because I was able to be on an iconic show, with an iconic cast, and an iconic haircut.
“Friends was truly – it was the gift of a lifetime, and I would not be standing up here without that amazing show, without those amazing five other actors, and with an audience who stuck with us...
“You believed in us, you really did, and you believed in those very impossibly large apartments.”
Jennifer, who is currently starring in new Apple TV+ series The Morning Show, added: “You paved the way for everything that I’ve had a chance to do since and it feels so good, also, that I get to be back on television, where it all started.
“Thank you for being on this journey with me, and just, I love you guys.”
Last month, Jennifer “broke Instagram” when she joined the photo-sharing site and posted a picture of all six Friends cast members together during a recent reunion.
The star later went on to reveal she is “working on something” with her former colleagues.
She told TV host Ellen DeGeneres: “We would love for there to be something, but we don’t know what that something is.
“So we’re just trying, we’re working on something.”
Ellen then pressed whether the project could be a feature-length film, but Jen remained tight-lipped, saying she doesn’t want to “lead people on” by giving any further information.
The cast of Friends have always maintained that they wouldn’t want to revisit the classic sitcom characters, including Lisa Kudrow, who recently branded the idea “sad”.