‘Friends’: A Complete Breakdown of Ross Geller’s Marriages and Divorces
Ross Geller (David Schwimmer) and Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston) from Friends are one of the most iconic TV couples of all time. But before and after this on-again, off-again duo got together, Ross was in several other serious relationships. He was also married more often than any of the other six castmates on the show.
Ross blames everyone but himself for the marriage breakdowns. As he says on the show, “First divorce: wife’s hidden sexuality, not my fault. Second divorce: said the wrong name at the altar, kind of my fault. Third divorce: they shouldn’t let you get married when you’re that drunk and have stuff drawn all over your face, Nevada’s fault.”
Here is a breakdown of Ross’s three divorces over 10 seasons of the show.
Everyone joked about Ross’s many divorces
Each character on Friends had a quirk to their personality that they got teased for, and for Ross, that was how many times he’d been divorced. Each relationship ended for a different reason and Ross had plenty of excuses for why the relationships needed to end. But that didn’t stop all his friends from making fun of him, Screen Rant reported.
The first episode of the series introduces the audience to Ross’s first ex-wife, Carol. Ross goes through an emotional time when he discovers that Carol has decided to move in with her partner, Susan, after confirming she is a lesbian.
Later, Carol tells Ross she is pregnant with his child, and the three parents — Ross, Carol, and Susan — must work to navigate raising the baby, Ben, together.
Ross and Emily were doomed from the start
After Rachel and Ross have their catastrophic “we were on a break” fiasco, she inadvertently introduces him to his next wife, Emily. Rachel is trying to get Joshua, a customer at Bloomingdale’s to ask her out and agrees to take her boss’s niece Emily to an event. While there, Ross becomes smitten with her.
Emily lives in London and their long-distance relationship moves at a fast pace. Ross proposes and convinces her to marry him after just six weeks.
At Ross and Emily’s wedding, he accidentally says Rachel’s name during their vows. Meanwhile, Rachel had flown to London to confess that she still had feelings for Ross before deciding to keep it to herself. Emily forgives him but makes Ross vow to never see Rachel again. Because he can’t make that promise, they get divorced soon after marriage.
A crazy night in Vegas leads to Ross and Rachel’s wedding
After a very tumultuous relationship, Ross and Rachel get married after having way too much to drink in Vegas. They aren’t technically together when they get hitched. Ross is hesitant to get divorced for the third time, so he pretends he’s going to get the marriage annulled and doesn’t. Six months later, they get a divorce. Both admit that they would have expected the marriage to last forever if it hadn’t been a drunken mistake.
Ross and Rachel get together at the end of the series and while they don’t get married during the show, Joey alludes to that eventuality during the spinoff show, Joey, when he says all his friends are married and starting families.
Even though Ross had more than his fair share of heartbreak, he ultimately winds up with the woman he’s loved since childhood. It just took a long road to get there.
