Friends: 10 Of The Best Reasons Couples Broke Up | ScreenRant
There have been many, many contentious breakups over the course of Friends - times where fans were left wondering why they couldn't just make it work... or at least try to! Chandler and Janice definitely have their shippers, who don't see why he couldn't fight to stay with her, and plenty of people are still angry about Ross and Julie (and Bonnie, and basically everyone else he dumped to be with Rachel).
No matter how many times people wanted a relationship to work out, though, there have been those breakups that just made sense. They may have broken hearts (characters and viewers'), or they may have been breakups everyone was hoping for, but they were relationships that ended for good reasons.
10 Carol & Ross - She Was A Lesbian
Technically, this happens before the show starts, but it's an unassailable reason to end a relationship. After marrying Ross when they were both young, Carol came out as a lesbian immediately before the show began, and so asked for a divorce. Despite this being one of the more reasonable, un-work-around-able reasons to end things, Ross did actually try and ask her to give it another chance later in the series when he happens to bump into her at a restaurant. Obviously, Carol turned that down, though.
9 Rachel & Joshua - She Proposed After Four Dates
Rachel and Joshua had some potential as a couple, but one of the biggest red flags here was that Joshua made it pretty clear from the start that he wasn't really looking for a relationship. However, he was willing to give it a shot... until Rachel got so caught up in her jealousy over Ross and Emily's relationship that she started behaving incredibly strangely. She put on a cheerleader outfit to try and impress him at a party, proposed after four dates, and then when he came over to talk to her, she opened the door in a wedding dress. Who can blame him?
8 Rachel & Barry - She Just Didn't Love Him
Rachel should probably have figured this out before the day of the wedding itself, but still, her reasons for ending the relationship were valid.
Despite the fact that Rachel thought that this was exactly the kind of pampered, suburban life she wanted, she realized that it just wasn't enough. Even if everything else seems great on paper, there's no denying that not loving someone is a great reason to end things.
7 Ross & Emily - He Said The Wrong Name At The Altar
There were many, many good reasons that this relationship should have ended - and shouldn't have reached the point it did in the first place! But the big one is that Ross said the wrong name at the altar on their wedding day, and it was obvious that this wasn't just a slip of the tongue, either. He was still hopelessly in love with Rachel. Really, the fact that it took her so long to actually officially call it off is the only surprising part of this breakup.
6 Ross & Elizabeth - She Was His Student
Like Monica and Richard's son, this is a relationship that ended for good reason - and shouldn't really have started in the first place. As a student, Elizabeth was significantly younger than Ross and in a completely different stage of life, he was in a position of power over her, and he would have been fired if anyone had discovered the connection. All good reasons, and fans were just wondering how they lasted as long as they did.
5 Rachel & Ross - He Was Jealous Of Her Career
Rachel and Ross's various breakups were usually for pretty good reasons, in fact. After he left Julie, she cut things off again because he made a list of all the things he didn't like about her, and used them as reasons not to date her - an entirely justified decision. After their 'break', she arguably broke up with him because he cheated on her, but even before that (or even for those people who believe that they had broken up, and it was not cheating), she ended things because Ross was painfully jealous of her career. Given that Rachel was finally doing a job she loved, and building something real for herself, the way he acted about it was completely unacceptable.
4 Mona & Ross - He Had No Time Or Attention For Her
Mona and Ross may have worked out if she had appeared at a different time in his life - but as it was, she had some very valid reasons for breaking things off with him. The whole situation with Rachel's pregnancy was difficult enough for her to deal with, but Ross didn't make it any easier.
He constantly forgot about her, he ran out of a movie theater when Rachel called, leaving Mona there, he gave her a key to his place then changed the locks, he freaked out about a holiday card... and then asked his pregnant ex-wife to move in with him. Mona had great reasons to end this one.
3 Rachel & Paolo - He Groped Her Friend
Rachel and Paolo were clearly doomed from the beginning anyway, as he was just a rebound for her, and they had nothing in common (not even a language), but she actually ended things after he groped Phoebe during a massage (and then exposed himself to her). In the show, it's played as him 'hitting on' her, but really, it's something that she could have pressed charges for. This isn't just a good reason to break up, if Rachel didn't leave Paolo for this, it would have been a reason for Phoebe to dump her as a friend.
2 Monica & Richard - They Wanted Different Things In Life
Monica and Richard's ending may have been heartbreaking, but it was reasonable. Despite all the things that they loved about each other, Monica wanted to have kids, to go through all the ups and downs of new parenthood with someone... and Richard had already done it. Even when he said he was willing to 'go through it' again, Monica wanted someone who was excited about the idea - and that wasn't Richard. Sad, but an extremely valid reason to end things.
1 Phoebe & Gary - He Shot A Bird
Finny, there's Phoebe and Gary, who seemed perfect... at first. They had a very Phoebe-appropriate meet-cute, and quickly fell for each other, even moving in together. However, they lived together for only one day, because on the first morning they woke up together, a bird started singing outside the window... and Gary (who is a cop) grabs a gun from the nightstand and shoots it. For most people, murdering a bird for singing in the morning (and not really seeming to care where else that bullet might go, given that they are in the middle of New York) could be a dealbreaker. For a non-violent vegetarian like Phoebe, there was never going to be a way to come back from this.