The Real Reason Bruce Willis Didn't Want To Kiss Jennifer Aniston
"Friends" fans could hardly contain their surprise when Bruce Willis stepped into Central Perk in the April 2000 episode "The One Where Ross Meets Elizabeth's Dad." Who could have guessed the "Die Hard" star would play Ross' much younger girlfriend's father? It all became even more exciting when Willis went on to have a fling with Rachel, A.K.A. Jennifer Aniston. Even though the romance is an important part of Willis' character's arc, Paul Stevens curiously never kissed Rachel in the three episodes he appeared in.
It may be hard to believe, but the evidence is right there. When Ross walked into the room to find out about the relationship, for example, Aniston and Willis quickly turned to face the door, suggesting they had been kissing, but without clearly showing it. Other scenes focused on Willis and Aniston with other characters, like the dinner scene, offering fewer opportunities for canoodling. While Paul and Rachel aren't shy about flirting and touching each other, we don't see them actually locking lips.
That's definitely unusual, considering there's plenty of kissing on "Friends." Despite the lack of smooching, Willis' cameo still went on to become one of the show's most memorable, earning him an Emmy for guest actor. And he had some tough competition, given that "Friends" featured numerous famous faces over its 10-year run, including Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt. In fact, the reason Willis and Aniston don't kiss has everything to do with Pitt.
Bruce Willis was friends with Jennifer Aniston's beau
That Bruce Willis and Jennifer Aniston didn't kiss was a surprise even to seasoned journalists. In December 2000, Rolling Stone asked Willis about the experience of kissing her, and he had to explain. "It's the illusion of a kiss. I actually didn't kiss her. I kissed her on the cheek," he said. Willis was the one who told producers he wouldn't do any kissing scenes with Aniston. It had nothing to do with her. "I would've liked to," he shared.
Instead, it had everything to do with whom Aniston was with. When the episodes Willis starred in came out between April and May 2000, Aniston was engaged to Brad Pitt. They tied the knot just a couple of months later, in July. It turns out that Willis and Pitt were close, so he felt a sense of loyalty toward him. "You know, Brad's a friend of mine. And Jennifer's his wife. It just didn't seem appropriate. But she's a babe," Willis said.
Willis and Pitt's paths had crossed just a few years earlier when they shared the screen in the 1995 Terry Gilliam dystopia "12 Monkeys." The film took Pitt's career to new heights, earning him his first Oscar nom and Golden Globe win. The film similarly showed a subdued facet of tough-guy Willis. While Willis' friendship with Pitt kept him from kissing Aniston, it was his friendship with another "Friends" star that landed him the role to begin with.
Bruce Willis starred on Friends after losing a bet to Matthew Perry
Some months before Bruce Willis starred in "The One Where Ross Meets Elizabeth's Dad," he had co-starred with Matthew Perry in "The Whole Nine Yards." And that's where the story of why Willis ended up on the "Friends" set started. Willis and Perry had different opinions regarding how successful the film would be at the box office, so they came to an agreement. "Bruce hadn't been sure the film would work at all, and I'd bet him it would — if he lost, he had to do a guest spot on 'Friends,'" Perry wrote in his 2022 memoir, "Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing."
In his interview with Rolling Stone, Willis didn't exactly describe it like that. "I just did it as a favor to Matthew," he said, which is a nice way to say you lost a bet. Regardless of wording, he was glad he did because it allowed him the opportunity to do something new. "I wanted to do it. I'd never done a three-camera show. I won an Emmy for it," he shared.
Perry considered himself to be the lucky one. "So, I'd gotten 'The Whole Nine Yards' and had embarked on a friendship with the most famous movie star on the planet," he wrote. Up until Perry's death in October 2023, Willis was a constant thought in his mind. "[I] pray for him every night now," he added, referring to Willis' dementia diagnosis.