Jessica Hecht claims she lost her spot as the main cast on Friends for not fitting in 'physically'

Jessica Hecht recently opened up on how she lost the chance to portray the character of Monica on "Friends" because she did not fit a certain physical image needed for the part, according to Entertainment Weekly.

In her interview with Parade, Jessica Hecht said that looking back now, she has realised the reason for the decision and further praised Courtney Cox for nailing the part. She said:

"I think looking at me back then, I’m tall and I just had a bigger size than the rest. 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."

Despite not being cast in the role of Monica Geller, Jessica Hecht has gone on to play other iconic characters in movies and television. Recently, she was nominated for her third Tony Award for her role as Suzanne in the play, "Eureka Day." The award was later won by Kara Young.

More about Jessica Hecht's latest revelation about auditioning for the role of Monica

Jessica Hecht, in her latest interview with Parade, published on June 11, opened up about how she ended up auditioning for the role of Monica Geller. She explained that despite being completely unknown in the industry, she managed to squeeze in an audition, adding that she knew the casting director from her hometown in Bloomfield.

She said

"I knew the casting director from high school. I grew up in a small town near Hartford, Connecticut, called Bloomfield. The only other person from my town who’s an actor or has anything to do with entertainment is Anika Noni Rose. But there was this woman, Ellie Kanner."

She further added:

"I was out in Los Angeles, and my agent said, ‘Oh, I sent your picture into 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.’ So I went in, mostly excited to see Ellie Kanner, and then they started to read me for Monica."

Jessica Hecht, however, ended up being cast as the recurring character of Susan Bunch on "Friends." In the show, Susan Bunch started dating Carolina Willick, played by Jane Sibbett, who was previously married to Ross Geller, played by David Schwimmer. The fictional couple, who had limited screen appearances, later ended up getting married, a moment which is remembered for its landmark LGBTQ representation.

Despite this, Jessica Hecht, in her interview with Parade, added that she felt that the showrunners could not quite grasp what to do with her character. She said:

"They just couldn’t figure out how to make Susan work. 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.”

Jessica Hecht further added that she felt herself as a "total backup" and that, in the beginning, there was no well-thought-out blueprint for her character. She said:

"If you’re at the very beginning, you don’t know what it’s going to be. So you’re just there trying to help them figure out what the show is. And you don’t feel the weight of its history, because it has no history."

She further added about working to build chemistry with Jane Sibbett as they played their respective characters. She said:

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"In Friends, it’s not that it was casual, but the show was not iconic by any stretch. So I had more creativity, and I had more of a sense of just trusting my gut about what I wanted to do with this character. And Jane Sibbett, who played my beautiful wife, we were so locked into each other, so it was mostly about our energy together. The actors were awesome, but nobody had that confidence yet, so it was a very delicious time."

Back in May, during an interview with People Magazine, Jessica Hecht admitted that looking back on the tremendous pressure the main cast had to uphold, she feels "grateful" to not be cast in a main role.

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