Winona Ryder made a memorable cameo on the hit sitcom Friends, with the true story of her appearance coming at a notable time in her career. Perhaps best known for her cult classic roles in the 1980s and Oscar-nominated performance in 1994’s Little Women, Winona Ryder was established as one of the most bankable actresses in Hollywood long before taking a leading role on Netflix’s Stranger Things. Ryder was even referenced on Friends as one of the celebrities on Ross’ “freebies” list four seasons before her cameo, highlighting her popularity.
Friends became a hit right off the bat in the 1990s, which meant the series had the opportunity to bring on some of the most popular stars of the era. In just the first few seasons, Friends featured cameos from massive celebrities like George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Brooke Shields. Even further down the line, Friends was able to do more significant stunt casting with actors like Bruce Willis, Susan Sarandon, Reese Witherspoon, Danny DeVito, Brad Pitt, and, of course, Winona Ryder. While celebrity cameos in sitcoms were nothing new at the time, Friends was notable for the amount of screentime given to their guests, resulting in numerous memorable characters.
Winona Ryder cameoed in the Friends season 7 episode “The One with Rachel’s Big Kiss” as Melissa Warburton, Rachel’s sorority sister from college with whom she shared a drunken kiss. The majority of Ryder’s cameo sees Rachel desperately trying to prove to Phoebe that the kiss actually happened, with Melissa finally admitting to the incident when Jennifer Aniston’s Rachel kisses her again. The kiss, which was a major stunt for Friends’ viewership, led Melissa to finally confess her love for Rachel after so many years of hiding her feelings. Unsurprisingly, the true story of Winona Ryder’s Friends cameo was met with some backlash, with outlets like EW citing at the time that the kiss was an unabashed way for Friends to try to regain its viewership numbers after fierce competition from Survivor. The criticisms of Ryder’s Friends episode also mentioned that Rachel and Melissa’s kiss was insensitive to LGBTQ+ communities for simply using a rare lesbian character as a throw-away ratings stunt.
The true story of Winona Ryder’s cameo also must be understood through the context of her position in Hollywood at the time of Friends’ 2001 episode, as her appearance was predated by a notable career slump. Perhaps as a source of redemption for Ryder after both of her 2000 movies were critically panned, Friends was a way to bring her back into the fold while the sitcom could benefit from her Oscar-nominee persona. From 2001 to 2005, Winona Ryder took a hiatus from acting, with her cameos on Friends season 7 and Zoolander being her only roles of 2001. The actress then took a few roles in films like Mr. Deeds and made a notable hosting gig on Saturday Night Live in 2002, but it wasn’t until she appeared in a few indie films in 2006 that her career saw a proper revival.
While Winona Ryder’s Friends season 7 cameo was surely memorable, the actress deserved a better slot on the sitcom than a role crafted specifically for higher ratings. Despite Friends being able to use Winona Ryder’s image for its marketing, “The One with Rachel’s Big Kiss” was one of the least-watched episodes of the season. Winona Ryder’s episode reported one of the lowest viewership numbers of Friends season 7 with only 16.3 million audience members tuning in (compared to the season finale’s 30.05 million viewers), although the following week’s “The One with the Vows” performed slightly worse. Friends would also mark the last TV cameo of Winona Ryder’s career, with the actress now enjoying a highly acclaimed role on Netflix’s Stranger Things.