| CHARACTER | ||||
| Rachel Geller | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||
| First appearance | The Pilot (Friends)
The One With All The Growing Up | |||
| Last appearance | The Last One (Friends)
N/A | |||
| Number of episodes | 236 (Friends) | |||
| Portrayed by | Jennifer Aniston | |||
| Name | Rachel Karen Geller (née Green) | |||
| Nicknames | Rach (by everyone), Mom (by Emma), Aunt Rachel (by Sophie, Mikey, Junior, Erica and Jack) | |||
| Gender | Female | |||
| Date of birth | May 5, 1969 | |||
| Occupation | Executive at Ralph Lauren | |||
| Relatives | Biological: Leonard Green (father) Sandra Green (mother) Amy Green (sister) Jill Green (sister) Ida Green (paternal grandmother) Emma Geller-Green (daughter) Adoptive/Marital: Jack Bing (nephew) Erica Bing (niece) Marital: Ross Geller (husband) Jack Geller (father-in-law) Judy Geller (mother-in-law) Monica Geller (sister-in-law) Chandler Bing (brother-in-law) Ben Geller (stepson) | |||
| Relationships | Paolo, Paul Stevens, Tag Jones, Joshua Burgin (ex-boyfriends) Ross Geller (husband) | |||
Rachel Karen Geller (née Green) is one of the original "Friends", Ross' wife and mother of Emma Geller-Green.
Background[]
Early Life[]
Rachel Karen Geller (née Green) was born May 5, 1969, to Leonard and Sandra Green, who gave her and her two sisters, Jill and Amy, a rather spoiled upbringing. She metMonica Geller for the first time when they were both six years old and they quickly became best friends, remaining exactly that from then until attending the same high school. Rachel also soon met Monica's older brother, Ross, who developed a crush on her which he ultimately decided to keep to himself. She was also involved with an unpleasant-natured fellow high school student named Chip, who arrived late to take her out to the high school prom. When it appeared that Chip was never going to arrive, Ross, after being encouraged by his parents Jack and Judy, decided to ask her out himself, but missed his chance when Chip arrived before he could ask her. She soon learned how unpleasant, careless and unfaithful at his core Chip was when he ditched her at the prom to have sex with another girl named Amy Welsh. Rachel herself, however, was a bully to an overweight student named, Will Colbert, spurring him and his friend, Ross, who dealt with the fact that she never seemed to notice his feelings for her in a very immature way, to form an "I Hate Rachel Green" Club and spread a rumor about her, saying that she, as Ross put it, "had both male and female reproductive parts" and that, as Will put it, "her parents flipped a coin and decided to raise her as a girl" which everyone in the entire high school (apart from Rachel herself) heard (which may or may not have influenced Chip's unfaithfulness towards her). Rachel also met Chandler Bing for the first time at Thanksgiving at Ross and Monica's house. Eventually drifting apart from Monica and Ross, Rachel met and got engaged to an orthodontist named Barry Farber, another careless and unpleasant-natured individual who was unfaithful toward her, cheating on her with both her best friend, Mindy and her selfish, shallow, unpleasant, self-absorbed sister Amy (although she didn't learn of this until after she eventually broke it off with him). Later, though, Rachel sleeps with him while he's engaged to Mindy, her former best friend.
Personality[]
Rachel's personality evolves somewhat over the series. Early on, she is portrayed as a spoiled girl. Later on in the series, especially after she gives birth, she becomes much less self-absorbed. As a girl used to having people at her beck and call, Rachel admits to Mr. Treeger that she has never taken the trash out. When Treeger yells at her for clogging up the trash chute, which he had unclogged shortly before with a lot of efforts, Rachel returns to the apartment in tears and exaggerates the situation. Monica dismisses the exaggerations, saying Rachel always cries. ("The One With The Ballroom Dancing")
As teasingly established in "The One With The Joke", Rachel has a reputation for being a "pushover". For instance, in "The One With The Cheap Wedding Dress", when Rachel, Monica, and Phoebe attend a sale in Brooklyn to find Monica's wedding dress, a confrontation takes place. Rachel is found huddled in a rack, terrified, blowing her panic whistle. When told to get up, Rachel insists that Phoebe hold her hand.
Instances of Rachel standing up for herself are far and few. For instance, in "The One With The East German Laundry Detergent" she is bullied by a horrible woman at the Laundromat but gets to assert herself when Ross encourages her. In "The One With Rachel's Sister", she angrily confronts Ross but fails to impress anyone. Exceptionally, however, she gets to strong arm her sister, Jill Green, in the same episode and Joey in "The One With Rachel's Book" and "The One With Phoebe's Cookies" entirely on her own. She also claims to have punched a woman in the face for trying to steal her umbrella though there is only her word for it. ("The One With Joey's Dirty Day")
Despite the personality evolution, Rachel is used to lying. Most significantly, in "The One With Joey's Porsche", she commits slander in a legal court, accusing Ross of being mentally unstable, being an intravenous drug addict and having failed to consummate his marriage. Very often, lies are told to inflict damage. For example, in "The One With Ross' New Girlfriend", she deliberately misleads Phoebe in hopes of ruining Julie's haircut out of jealousy. Also in "The One At The Beach", Rachel tricked Bonnie into shaving her head. There are also instances of deceit that are more impulsive than deliberate, such as claiming that Monica hurt her ankle in "The One Where Phoebe Runs" or assuming a fake Indian accent in NYU. Nevertheless, they don't justify the act. In "The One With Rachel's Sister", Rachel dismissed Jill's fake crying as a deceitful invention of her own that would not fool its inventor.
Relationships[]
Monica Geller (Best Friend/Sister-in-Law)[]
One of Rachel's closest friends is Monica, her best friend since they were six-years-old. In high school, Rachel was a popular cheerleader with a string of boyfriends. Meanwhile, Monica was her less attractive and overweight best friend. They lost contact for a number of years, to the point where Monica was convinced that she would never become close friends with Rachel again. However, they became close again when Rachel left Barry and moved in with her.
During the period that they live together, Rachel is revealed to be an exceptionally good roommate. As Monica tells Phoebe, Rachel has sweet little quirks, such as folding back the pages in catalogs of things she thinks Monica would like. She also leaves messages on the mirror when Monica takes a shower, and lets Monica borrow her hundred-plus pairs of boots.
Phoebe Buffay (Close Friend)[]
Rachel's other best friend. Phoebe first met Rachel in the pilot episode when Rachel leaves Barry and comes to live with Monica.
In a season 5 episode "The One With The Kips", Phoebe and Rachel consider starting a new group of friends with Joey after Emily (Ross's current wife) demands that Ross doesn't see Rachel anymore. Rachel says "We can start a new group, you and me, we're the best ones," to which Phoebe responds "Okay. But let's try to get Joey." This never happened as Ross could not go without seeing Rachel and the group remained as it was.
From seasons 6–7, Rachel and Phoebe lived together after Chandler moved into Monica's apartment. In "The One Where Ross Dates A Student", Phoebe and Rachel's apartment catches fire, causing Phoebe to temporarily live with Monica and Rachel to live with Joey. Later on, in "The One with the Holiday Armadillo", the apartment is fixed and Phoebe and Rachel decide to move back but the repair work left them with only one bedroom, so Phoebe lives there alone while Rachel is living with Joey.
In an early episode, Phoebe and Rachel go to get tattoos together. Though Rachel ends up getting a heart tattooed on her hip, Phoebe does not get the intended lily (for her mother) on her shoulder because she didn't know they did it with needles. Rachel tried to convince her to get the tattoo, but the artist barely touched her with the needle before she ran off screaming. She now has a 'blue freckle' which she claims is 'the earth as seen from a great great distance or as (her) mother sees it from heaven'.
Phoebe and Rachel have a very strong relationship throughout the series, despite occasional and humorous squabbles over things like jogging, massages, Pottery Barn furniture and a lesbian encounter Rachel had in college (which Phoebe refused to believe, even though it turned out to be true). Like with Monica, Rachel and Phoebe have kissed (screen).
Joey Tribbiani (Close Friend / Ex-boyfriend)[]
Joey and Rachel first meet at Central Perk, after Rachel leaves Barry at the altar. They become close friends. Later, in the series, Joey falls in love with her, but she does not feel the same way. Even later in the series, Rachel does feel something for Joey, but the past issue is long forgotten. They share a week long, but passionate, relationship. However, they cannot get past the kissing stage, as they know they are just friends, and that's all they ever will be.
Chandler Bing (Close Friend)[]
Rachel and Chandler met in the 1980s when she was introduced to him through Ross. Their first meeting was at a Thanksgiving celebration at the home. The pair met again at a party at Ross and Chandler's college in the winter of 1987 ("The One Where The Stripper Cries"). At this party, Chandler and a drunk Rachel shared a kiss. (It was revealed that the only reason Chandler kissed Rachel was to get back at Ross for kissing a girl he liked.)
In 1993, they met again at a bar which would be torn down to make room for the gang's frequent hangout spot Central Perk. Rachel hadn't seen Chandler since her days in high school. At the bar, Chandler overheard Rachel talking to some friends about how she wanted to have one last night of meaningless sex before her marriage to Barry. She added that she wanted to have sex with the first guy she laid her eyes on, which happened to be Chandler. They never did hook up, but Rachel did have a fantasy about him. ("The One With The Flashback") In another episode, she confesses to having recurrent erotic dreams about him, much to Ross's chagrin.
Rachel and Chandler cross paths again in 1994, when Rachel storms into Central Perk looking for Monica. Through the course of the series, Rachel and Chandler's relationship grows. They share a close friendship, often consoling and confiding in one another. On one particular occasion, they share a stolen cheesecake with each other and conceal it from the others. Particularly in earlier seasons, they go out to lunch together a few times. However, there has not been any romance between them, as they are just good friends.
Ross Geller (Husband, Father of Child, Best Friend)[]
Rachel has been involved in a turbulent,off relationship with Monica's brother, Ross. After an argument over Rachel's prioritizing work over their anniversary and continued friendship with Mark, Rachel announces that they are taking, "a break." Ross, thinking that Rachel is ending the relationship, gets drunk and sleeps with Chloe. When Rachel decides that she wants to make things work with Ross, he becomes determined to prevent her from finding out about his one-night stand. Rachel eventually finds out about Ross's indiscretion, and the pair argue in Rachel's living room while their friends are trapped in Monica's bedroom. Rachel ends the relationship, and the two bicker for a long while.
When Ross decides to marry his British girlfriend, Emily Waltham, Rachel realizes that she's still in love with him despite the fact that she's involved with someone else. Rachel flies to London to tell Ross how she feels, only to change her mind when she sees how happy Emily makes him. The wedding is ruined, however, when Ross accidentally says Rachel's name instead of Emily's during the wedding vows. Despite the fact that Ross is desperately trying to convince his new wife to forgive him, Rachel tells him that she is still in love with him. They decide to pretend that her declaration of love never happened, due to her embarrassment and his marriage to Emily. The marriage eventually fails due to Emily's inability to trust Ross after the, "I, Ross, take thee Rachel," incident.
On a trip to Vegas, Ross and Rachel got married after a drinking binge. Ross wanted to eat a ton of grapes and Rachel wanted to get married, so they decided to get married then eat a ton of grapes. Unable to get an annulment, they had to divorce instead. Years later, Rachel and Ross slept together. This encounter resulted in a pregnancy, and Rachel gave birth to a daughter: Emma. For a time, they decided to remain friends and roommates. Eventually, they reunited for good when they realized they still loved each other.
Emma Green (Daughter)[]
Emma is Ross and Rachel's daughter, conceived during an encounter in Rachel's apartment. The name Emma was originally chosen by Monica as the name she wanted to use for her future daughter. Before deciding on Emma, Ross and Rachel discussed several other names: Delilah was rejected because Rachel felt that it made her daughter sound like a Biblical whore, and Isabella was rejected as well. Ross also once stated that he would like to name his daughter Emily, which he soon decided against, possibly because of his marriage to Emily Waltham.
Sandra and Leonard Green[]
Rachel's mother, Sandra, has a way of being dominating and unpleasant without going overboard. She's also harsh when it comes to her opinions. (Example: She has suggested moving into Ross's apartment after Emma's birth, and she has added that his "dinosaur things" belong in the garbage.) It is implied that Rachel used to be like her mother before she turned her life around and moved to the city. She managed to avoid a loveless marriage, while her mother married, "her Barry." During her first visit to Rachel's NYC apartment, Mrs. Green admits that she wants a life that is similar to her daughter's.
Rachel's father, Leonard Green, is a very dominating, strict and harsh man. He has a striking sense of sarcasm and what he deems right or wrong, but he's not afraid of spoiling his daughters. (Rachel claims that her father bought her her own boat to cheer her up when her pony fell ill.) When his daughters do something that he doesn't like, he has the tendency to cut them off financially. Despite being quite generous when it comes to his daughters, he shares very little of his wealth with others. This is proven when he leaves a 2% tip after going out to eat with Rachel and Ross.
During their marriage, Rachel's parents' love life was practically non-existent. In fact, they married for the sake of money. According to Rachel, they barely spoke during their marriage ... except when they argued. After their divorce, they could not stand to be in the same room as each other. This led to Rachel's friends throwing her two birthday parties at the same time: one with Rachel's mother in Rachel's apartment, and the other with Rachel's father in the guys' apartment.
Jill and Amy Green[]
Jill and Amy are Rachel's sisters, with whom she has a typical sibling-rivalry relationship. When they were younger, they would constantly pull pranks on each other.
Jill is Rachel's favorite sister, despite being extremely spoiled. During her visit when their father decides to financially cut her off, Jill scoffs at the idea of dating Ross. She changes her mind when she think that Rachel wants her to date him. After two dates, their relationship is ended by Ross, because he doesn't want anything to interfere with his ability to reunite with Rachel. Angry, she sets out to seduce him, after failing to do so, she leaves upset with her sister and says Ross is gay for not wanting to sleep with her.
Unlike Jill, Amy doesn't even recognize Ross. In fact, she is convinced that he's a falafel seller. During Thanksgiving dinner, Phoebe says that Amy is the one that bit Rachel. Rachel and Amy don't have a close relationship, like the one Rachel and Jill have. When Amy visits during Emma's first Thanksgiving, she only says, "Hi." Then she announces that she wants to borrow a hair straightener, referring to Emma as "Emmett" because she is under the impression that the baby is a boy.
Ida Green[]
Ida is Rachel's grandmother, who is referred to by some as "Spuds." When Rachel finds out that some cute guys live in her grandmother's building, she says, "No sense of personal space? Kinda smells like chicken? Looks like a potato? That's my bubbe!" (This is another indication that Rachel is of Jewish descent, as the word "bubbe" means "grandmother" in Yiddish.)
Physical Appearance[]
Rachel is a beautiful young woman with blue eyes and a slim figure. She has had the most hairstyles. In Season 1, it is short and brown until Season 3, when it becomes longer. In Season 4, her hair turns blonde. At the end of Season 6, her hair becomes even longer. Later in Season 7, her hair is chopped off into a short bob. By the end of the series, her hair is fairly long again, going down to her shoulders and is brown again with side-swept bangs.