Friends Almost Ruined Chandler & Monica’s Love Story – But Matthew Perry Stepped In

The script where Chandler cheats on Monica made it all the way to rehearsal before Matthew Perry objected. In her interview with TMZ, actress Lisa Cash says, “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. He was probably right! That would’ve changed possibly the course of the show and his character.”

At this point, “Friends” had already weathered one cheating scandal — who can forget Ross (David Schwimmer) and Rachel’s (Jennifer Aniston) infamous “We were on a break!” storyline? But whereas they were kind of sort of separated (fans still debate this) when Ross slept with someone else, this Chandler-Monica plot point would have constituted cold, hard cheating, and Perry correctly intuited that burning the relationship down in this way wouldn’t serve his character or the show.

Cash did lose out on a guest starring role playing opposite Perry — something she says might have been a game changer for her career — but the show managed to make good by giving her a co-starring role as a flight attendant in a scene with Ross and Rachel instead.

Ultimately, Perry’s choice to object to the storyline did more than save Monica and Chandler’s relationship. Former “Friends” executive producer Scott Silveri, who also co-wrote the fourth season’s London finale and the Vegas episodes, told Vulture in 2019 that he thought Monica and Chandler’s relationship added three years to the series’ overall run. “I don’t owe my whole house to them, but at least two bedrooms and a bath are because of them.”