The cast of Friends became some of the most recognisable faces in showbiz when they landed on screens in 1994 – but one actor has now stepped away from the industry all together
The Friends cast haven’t been able to escape from their character’s names since the show first aired in 1994. However, one star has moved far away from the sitcom as she reveals her surprising career change.
A huge storyline in the NBC sitcom was Ross Geller’s (David Schwimmer) unfortunate love life, which all started off with his first wife Carol (Jane Sibbett). The couple shared son Ben, although Carol left Ross for Susan Bunch, played by Jessica Hecht.
The onscreen relationship between the two was groundbreaking, making history with the first lesbian wedding on network television in the episode “The One with the Lesbian Wedding”, which aired on NBC on January 18, 1996.
Jane, who appeared in 15 episodes of the NBC sitcom which aired from 1994-2001 now has a very different career – as an energy healer.
The 62-year-old moved from California to Hawaii over a decade ago to pursue a career as an energy healer. Speaking about the transitioning from acting to healing and spirituality with PEOPLE, Jane said: “When I work with the dancing hands, it’s not me. It’s source energy coming through me, and so I just feel nothing but bliss and joy and love when I am in this state.”
Before her move to Hawaii, Jane and her hosted goddess circles for women, with groups ranging from 15 to 100 people who would partake in the spiritual activity.
The couple later launched a production company, although later split while living in Hawaii. I was on my knees because I was really broken hearted by everything, and part of that was my stuff that I had to deal with,” she told the publication.
Jane then embraced her new career as an energy healer. “I wouldn’t call it Reiki,” she said. “[My hands] just started dancing because I was never trained in Reiki, so I wouldn’t even know what that is. I believe in it, I trust it [but] it’s just not what I do. This wasn’t trained. This just came in fully fleshed, immediately.”
In 2020, Jane opened up about the backlash she received from viewers for playing lesbian character Carol on the hit sitcom.
Speaking with Now To Love, she said: “It became apparent soon after [the show premiered] there was suddenly a responsibility about being able to stand up against all of the people that were saying this was wrong, including my own father who had a really hard time with that.”
It came after the actress revealed she was initially poached for Jennifer Aniston ‘s role of Rachel Green before the show began filming.
However, she was unable to take on the role as she was pregnant at the time.
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