Jennifer Grey turned down Friends return over 'bad anxiety'
Jennifer Grey has revealed she felt too anxious to reprise her guest role in Friends.
While speaking to MediaVillage for an interview published on Saturday, the Dirty Dancing star recalled being cast as Mindy in Friends.
In her guest-starring role, Grey played the former best friend of Rachel (Jennifer Aniston), who married Rachel's ex-fiancé. Grey recounted her excitement turning to fear after spending time on the show's set.
"When I did it, I had such bad anxiety because they kept changing the script," the actress shared in her interview. "It's very hard to be a guest star because you're not a part of it, and you're really trying to figure it all out."
She added, "They were trying to figure out what the character was, what the scene was, and it was changing, and changing, and changing. It all made me so anxious that I could barely do it."
Grey admitted she didn't realise she "had a lot of performance anxiety, and I just didn't understand at that time that I needed help in the anxiety department".
When she was asked to reprise the role, she turned the offer down. Jana Marie Hupp was recast for Mindy.
"They got someone else to play the role," Grey explained. "It makes me sad that I would say no to continuing on Friends or doing Saturday Night Live because of my anxiety. The truth is, I wished I had people to help me navigate that kind of fear."
She concluded, "In life, I always learn more from things that you feel like a failure at, and the successes, you don't learn as much, although they might be fun. But it's all a part of life."
