Kudrow: Friends Writers Obsessed with Aniston and Cox

Friends star has accused the show's predominantly male writing team of openly discussing their sexual fantasies about her co-stars while working late into the night. 

The actress became a household name thanks to her starring role as ditzy masseuse Phoebe Buffay in the sitcom, featuring in every episode during its ten-year run. 

But she says life on set was at odds with the show's carefree premise, with each 22-minute episode taking as long as six hours to film in front of an expectant studio audience in  – thousands of miles away from its setting. 

'There was definitely mean stuff going on behind the scenes,' Kudrow, 62, told The Times. 

'Don’t forget we were recording in front of a live audience of 400, and if you messed up one of these writers’ lines or it didn’t get the perfect response they could be like, "Can’t the b**** f****** read? She’s not even trying. She f***** up my line."' 

Kudrow claims her female co-stars and  would also be the subject of lurid conversations amongst its largely male writing team.  

She said: 'The guys would be up late discussing their sexual fantasies about Jennifer and Courteney. It was intense. 

'Oh, it could be brutal, but these guys – and it was mostly men in there – were sitting up until 3:00am. Trying to write the show so my attitude was, "Say what you like about me behind my back because then it doesn’t matter".' 

The actress previously told how she .

'I'm looking back, and I had given birth to my son and ten days later I was at a meeting,' she told CBS Sunday Morning in April. 'I did the Tonight Show. And then was in a meeting for Analyze This.' 

After welcoming her son on May 7, she remembered: 'My agent's like, "Yeah, you'll be okay. You're not shooting until July, and it's May. It's no big deal".'

However, the star said she ended up filming the big budget comedy, which also stars Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal, significantly earlier.

She recalled: 'In the meeting, Billy Crystal's saying, "Yeah, I mean, you look great. Are you sure you're able to do this? When did you give birth?" And I told him. He's like, "Alright, well, we start Thursday".'

Her loved ones even encouraged her to return to work.

The former Friends star said: 'I remember my husband's parents were visiting from France. My parents were around. Everyone around went, "Of course, you can do it."

'And I said, "But it's wrong. I have a newborn".'