Friends star says dad refused to watch show over her iconic character

Friends star Jane Sibbett has revealed that own father refused to watch the sitcom because she played a lesbian in it, and would hold bible study meetings on the nights that it aired.

The actress, 61, starred as Carol Willick in the beloved series - the ex-wife of David Schwimmer's character Ross Geller, who came out as a lesbian following their split.

She ultimately marries a woman named Susan in the show, and when their same-sex wedding was depicted on screen, it made history as the first lesbian nuptials to ever be shown on TV.

While she's proud of the 'groundbreaking' moment, Jane has now admitted that it caused immense 'stress' in her personal life - and nearly split up her own family.

She confessed to The Sun recently that her religious father disapproved of her playing a lesbian, which she admitted was 'heartbreaking.'

'It caused stress in my own family,' she said. 'We had a big situation with my father who wouldn’t watch the show.

'It was heartbreaking that he wouldn’t watch it. He would hold a bible study group at the time it aired to ensure his friends wouldn’t see it either.'

Thankfully, Jane said he 'came around to it in the end' after her godfather 'wrote him a letter' saying 'how proud he was.'

'That cracked it for my father. He thought, "Wait, I’m not going to be judged for this and it can help people,"' she explained.

'It was great for that wound to be healed before my dad passed.'

And unfortunately, her dad wasn't the only person who was not supportive. 

Jane also revealed that she was subjected to a slew of nasty comments from people on the street over the role. 

'I would say there was 95 per cent support. But once, I had flown to Canada to shoot a Disney movie and a child was yelling at me out of a school window,' she recalled.

'He was shouting, "Go home, American f*g," and I just went, "Wow, wrong on so many levels dude. Come down here and have a conversation with me."

'Then I had a woman from my old church call me up… and proceeded to [tell] me that I was going to burn in hell.'

Even so, looking back, the star told The Sun that she was extremely proud of her participation in the show.

'It was groundbreaking for a lesbian character on TV but also for how Carol and Ross handled divorce and co-parenting without fighting. It was a gift,' she gushed.

While chatting with the publication, Jane also revealed that she once left her costar Matthew Perry 'blushing' when she started breastfeeding on set.

The actress, who had just given birth to her son, Kai, explained that there was a scene of the show that featured her character breastfeeding her and Ross' child in front of him and his friends.

But she explained that Matthew didn't think she'd actually take her 'breast out,' and when she did, he was totally shocked.

'I actually tried to nurse the babies - with their mother’s permission - and that’s why you get such a hilarious reaction from Matt Perry,' the Friends alum shared.

'He was like, "Whoa, Sibbett's breast is out." He thought I was going to pantomime breastfeeding but didn’t know I’d do it for real.

'I was really free in front of the audience, put my boob out and the babe on ... That’s why Matt’s reaction was so funny.

'You can almost see him blush if you look at that take closely enough. It’s so hilarious, I mean I’m sure he’d seen breasts before but he’d never seen me whip mine - my big milky breast out - that was funny.'