Friends co-creator reveals the major mistake she made when writing Chandler’s transgender parent

Like many older shows from past generations, there are parts about the NBC sitcom Friends that did not age well. The show has been criticized for years over the lack of diversity in the main cast, which includes Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Matthew Perry, and Matt LeBlanc. It’s also faced backlash for the way they handled topics such as homosexuality and overweight characters. Years after the comedy aired its final episode, co-creator Marta Kauffman is opening up on her regrets.

In late June of this year, the 65-year-old TV producer shared that she was donating $4 million to the African and American Studies Department at her alma mater college, Brandeis University. This decision came after she realized she had made a mistake with the lack of diversity in the Friends cast. She admitted she felt “embarrassed” by her choices.

And now, in a new interview on BBC World Service’s The Conversation, as reported by People Magazine, Kauffman has brought up another part about Friends that she no longer is happy with, to say the least. Fans of the show will remember that we meet one of Chandler Bing’s parents, played by Kathleen Turner, in the episode “The One with Chandler’s Dad.” Kauffman regrets the way they handled the character, who turns out to be transgender.

“We kept referring to her as Chandler’s father, even though Chandler’s father was trans,” Kauffman said. “Pronouns were not yet something that I understood. So we didn’t refer to that character as ‘she.’ That was a mistake.”

A lot has certainly changed since

Friends

was on air, and we’re sure many fans of the sitcom are happy to hear that one of the co-creators is taking responsibility for some of the problematic parts.