The mystery behind Friends ‘invisible’ character takes a new turn
For 25 years, a mystery on Friends has been baffling fans of the US sitcom, but now we may finally have an answer.
In season 6 episode The One With Ross’ Denial, Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) casually mentions that she has a roommate called Denise.
However, Denise never appeared on the show nor did Phoebe drop her into conversation again, leaving many to speculate she didn’t exist.
The prevailing theory is that Phoebe invented her to deter Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) from moving in with her when she was kicked out of Monica’s (Courteney Cox) apartment to make room for Chandler (Matthew Perry).
But now a Reddit user has claimed that Denise is not a figment of Phoebe’s imagination and was in fact a very real character they had actually auditioned for.
Fizzyfizzz has alleged Denise is in fact Phoebe’s third husband Mike’s (Paul Rudd) sister and in a discarded storyline was also intended as a love interest for Joey (Matt LeBlanc).
They claimed: ‘It’s definitely Mike’s sister, I know because I auditioned for it. They were going to do a storyline with Joey crushing on Mike’s two sisters but cut it out.’
Agreeing, zddoodah said: ‘I think the general consensus is that she was Mike’s sister (although it’s obviously conjecture either way).’
However, others believe that Denise’s unknowability was a narrative device to form the character of Phoebe.
NoArgument12 explained: ‘I think it’s part of Phoebe’s mystique, she has loads under her hat that the rest don’t know until they need to know:
‘Her French and Italian, her being a mugger, holding up under torture 🤣 no one person will ever know Phoebe Buffay, except Phoebe Buffay.’
Echoing their sentiment Beginning-Tarot-2673 said: ‘Initially I thought she was making up Denise. But it seemed like they were genuinely trying to sell the idea that Phoebe had these hidden things in her life, especially from the reaction of others and the unnecessary details about Denise.
‘Also given how excited she was to have Rachel live with her after Denise left a few weeks later, I guess it makes more sense to assume she was real. It just seemed fake at first. If it was anyone else, I think it would have been clear that Denise was fake. But since this is Pheobe, the opposite holds true I guess.’
The existence of Phoebe’s roommate Denise is not the only plot hole concerning the character that has baffled fans.
If you cast your minds back to The One With All The Cheesecakes, back in season seven, she has a date with David the Scientist Guy (Hank Azaria).
The singer-turned-massage therapist is left heartbroken as he returned to Minsk to continue on his research.
As she cried to Joey, he instructed her simply to fly and visit him, to which she replied: ‘Oh right, like they’re going to let me have a passport.’
However, if you fast forward to the end of season nine, not only are Phoebe and David reunited but they’re on holiday in Barbados together.
We assume Phoebe must have had a trip down to immigration to get a passport?
Friends is available to stream on Netflix in the UK.
The mystery behind Friends ‘invisible’ character takes a new turn