Friends: Did Matthew Perry reject Chandler's cheating plot? Here's what we know

Matthew Perry and Courteney Cox in Friends | Image via Warner Bros. Television
Matthew Perry and Courteney Cox in Friends | Image via Warner Bros. Television

Friends is among the cult classic American sitcoms that premiered in 1994. The show followed a group of friends who lived in Manhattan and depicted the lives of these individuals with a humorous note. Over the years, these characters have become fan-favorites. One of those characters was the late Matthew Perry’s Chandler Bing. His sarcastic and witty dialogues are still part of the pop culture and are used throughout the internet.

Another reason was his beautiful relationship with Monica (Courteney Cox), Ross’s sister. Other than Rachel and Ross’s troubling relationship, Friends fans loved Chandler and Monica’s hopeful and loyal relationship. However, that relationship was also supposed to go through a cheating plot, but was not included due to Matthew Perry’s intervention.

In a 2023 interview with TMZ, actress Lisa Cash, who appeared in Season 5, Episode 23, shared that the episode was supposed to be the one in which Chandler cheats on Monica. However, the storyline was cut just before the day of performing in front of a live audience because Perry was talking to the writers and cutting it out. She said:

"The day before we were shooting in front of a live audience, I was told that Perry went to the writers and said the audience would never forgive [Chandler] for cheating on Monica."

More on this in our story.


Friends: Actress Lisa Cash’s comments on Matthew Perry rejecting Chandler’s Cheating Plot

In the finale episode of Season 4, the friends travelled to London for Ross’s wedding ceremony. While Ross and Emily’s wedding ended with a cliffhanger that was solved in Season 5, we got another couple who ended up together and became one of the show's best couples. Chandler and Monica became a couple at teh end of Season 4, and initially, kept their relationship a secret from everyone except Joey (Matt LeBlanc).

However, as per Lisa Cash, the relationship was supposed to get into trouble in Season 5. In the episode titled, The One in Vegas, Monica goes out to have lunch with her ex, Richard. When Chandler finds out about it, he gets angry. Cash told TMZ that after having a fight with Monica about it, Chandler would go back to his room and order room service. Cash was supposed to play the hotel worker that Chandler cheats on Monica with.

She also revealed that they all had rehearsed their scenes, but she was informed just a day before filming it in front of a live audience that Perry had asked to scrap the storyline as he thought the viewers would not like it. She agreed that teh storyline would have changed Matthew’s character forever.

To add to her previous comment, she said:

"He was probably right! That would’ve changed possibly the course of the show and his character."

While the cheating plot was rejected from the show, Cash still appeared in the episode as a flight attendant.


More about Friends

Chandler and Monica’s relationship in Friends was one of the highlights of the show. While he never cheated on her, they went through their fair share of challenges, which they faced together. The duo gets married in Season 7 of the fan-favorite sitcom.

Apart from Perry, LeBlanc, and Courteney Cox, the popular show also includes Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, and David Schwimmer. Several big Hollywood stars, such as Hugh Laurie, John Stamos, Selma Blair, and Brad Pitt, have also appeared in the show.


Keep reading Soap Central for more such stories.

Also Read: Stranger Things: 5 reasons behind Steve Harrington's cult favorite status in the horror series

Edited by Debashri Roy