The mystery behind Friends ‘invisible’ character takes a new turn
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For 25 years, a mystery on Friends has been baffling fans of the US sitcom, but now we may finally have an answer. In season 6 episode The One With Ross’ Denial, Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) casually mentions that she has a roommate called Denise. However, Denise never appeared on the show nor did Phoebe drop her into conversation again, leaving many to speculate she didn’t exist.
![[FRIENDS -- Pictured: Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay (Photo by Jon Ragel/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/PRI_89047919-79ef.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
The prevailing theory is that Phoebe invented her to deter Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) from moving in with her when she was kicked out of Monica’s (Courteney Cox) apartment to make room for Chandler (Matthew Perry). But now a Reddit user has claimed that Denise is not a figment of Phoebe’s imagination and was in fact a very real character they had actually auditioned for.
Fizzyfizzz has alleged Denise is in fact Phoebe’s third husband Mike’s (Paul Rudd) sister and in a discarded storyline was also intended as a love interest for Joey (Matt LeBlanc). They claimed: ‘It’s definitely Mike’s sister, I know because I auditioned for it. They were going to do a storyline with Joey crushing on Mike’s two sisters but cut it out.’.
Agreeing, zddoodah said: ‘I think the general consensus is that she was Mike’s sister (although it’s obviously conjecture either way).’. However, others believe that Denise’s unknowability was a narrative device to form the character of Phoebe.
