FRIENDS’ 25th Anniversary: How Did Monica Afford Her Apartment?

[On Thursday, September 22, NBC debuted the pilot of FRIENDS. The sitcom, about a group of six 20-something friends, went on to become a pop culture touchstone. In honor of the milestone, we’re doing 25 Days of FRIENDS, looking back at the show in big and small ways.]

In the FRIENDS world, there is a lot fans can debate: Were Ross and Rachel on a break? Are you pro- or anti-Joey and Rachel?

But one thing that has lingered—almost as much as the (false) assertion that the LOST characters were dead all along—over the years was how could Monica afford her spacious apartment? (Heck, even THE GOOD PLACE did a joke about it in season 2.) After all, the place had two bedrooms, a bonkers big living room, and an impressively sized kitchen/dining room. Monica wasn’t abnormally well off (and her parents weren’t funding her lifestyle), so how was she pulling an apartment like that in NYC?

The only problem? The show addressed it. Multiple times.

As Monica notes, she’s actually, technically, not the official resident of the apartment; her grandmother is. But when her grandmother left the city, Monica (illegally) took over the lease and its cushy rent-controlled rates. So she and her roommates got one heck of a deal. (As Chandler noted in the series finale, “it was a freakin’ steal.”)

Now, if you want to make jokes about how the apartment number changed mid-series…

RELATED:

• A FRIENDS Mini-Marathon is Hitting Theaters This Fall
• Warner Bros. Stages FRIENDS Pop-Up for 25th Anniversary
• FRIENDS, Rita Moreno Honored by the TCA Awards
• Taylor Swift Sings FRIENDS’ ‘Smelly Cat’ with Lisa Kudrow
• Which Current TV Stars Appeared on FRIENDS?
• FRIENDS: Netflix Has Marathon Suggestions for the Show’s January 1st Streaming Launch

Follow @GiveMeMyRemote and @marisaroffman on Twitter for the latest TV news. Connect with other TV fans on GIVE ME MY REMOTE’s official Facebook page.

And be the first to see our exclusive videos by subscribing to our YouTube channel at youtube.com/givememyremotetv