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David Schwimmer, best known for playing Ross Geller in the hit sitcom Friends, recently revealed that he struggled with the show's theme song for years. During an appearance on Matt Lucas and David Walliams' Making a Scene podcast, Schwimmer admitted that hearing I'll Be There for You by The Rembrandts repeatedly throughout the show's 10-season run became overwhelming.
"I never watched the show after we finished it," Schwimmer confessed. Lucas jokingly responded, "Same, I never watched your show." The actor explained that he preferred to move forward rather than revisit past projects. However, his perspective shifted when his daughter, Cleo, discovered the show at around nine years old.
"For quite a while, just hearing the theme song would really," he paused, sighing before continuing, "You know what I mean? I just had that reaction. I mean, I just had heard it so many times." Schwimmer noted that the song followed him everywhere, making it difficult to escape. "Any time you'd go on a show or a talk show or an interview, that would be your intro song. So I just didn't have the greatest response to it."
Lucas lightened the moment by quoting the song's famous opening line, "Well, no one told you life was going to be that way," to which Schwimmer replied, "Correct, thank you."
However, everything changed when he experienced the show through his daughter's eyes. "I'd be making breakfast or whatever, and I'd hear my kid's laughter," he recalled. "My whole relationship to that song and to the show changed."
Friends premiered on September 22, 1994, and became one of the most beloved sitcoms of all time. Alongside Schwimmer, the show starred Jennifer Aniston (Rachel Green), Courteney Cox (Monica Geller), Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe Buffay), Matt LeBlanc (Joey Tribbiani), and the late Matthew Perry (Chandler Bing). The cast has remained close since the series finale in 2004 and reunited for HBO's Friends: The Reunion in 2021.
Last year, the show celebrated its 30th anniversary, proving that its legacy continues to thrive. Despite his initial struggle with the theme song, Schwimmer now appreciates the impact Friends has had, thanks to his daughter's love for the show.
