‘Friends’, like any cultural product, is the daughter of its time. The well-remembered sitcom is already television history, which is why many of its aspects are still being debated, despite the fact that it ended almost 20 years ago. One of the most commented topics of the series has come back to the fore: Chandler’s transgender mother played by Kathleen Turner.
“It was a real challenge”
Marta Kauffman, creator of ‘Friends’, confirmed that Kathleen Turner’s character was a trans woman, despite the fact that in the series they were referring to her constantly as “Chandler’s dad”.
About this, the actress of ‘Peggy Sue got married’ and ‘After the green heart’ has recently stated that If he was offered the role now, it is very likely that he would turn it down.although for her it was quite a challenge:
Giving the role to a trans person or a drag queen was not considered, it was never raised. It never occurred to me that she was taking someone’s place. Probably not (I would accept the role now). But I don’t regret doing it. It was a real challenge!
Kauffman already recognized some time ago the lack of awareness he had about the use of pronouns when the series was broadcast: “The pronouns thing was something I didn’t understand at the time. That’s why we didn’t refer to the character as “she”, that was a mistake.”
In Spain, ‘Friends’ is broadcast free on Neox and its 10 seasons are available on HBO Max.