Co-creator Marta Kauffman recalled in Littlefield's book, “There was something about Courteney that was adorable.”
The Monica part was narrowed down to Courteney and Nancy McKeon, an actress from “The Facts of Life,” and Kauffman and co-creator David Crane made the call.
“Courteney brought a whole bunch of colors to [the role],” Crane said. “We decided that, week after week, that would be a lovelier place to go to.”
Monica was the Mother Hen of the gang, a bossy, competitive, take charge woman. As her love life went, after a relationship with an older man, Richard (Tom Selleck), who was a generation older than her. Monica eventually dated and married fellow Friend Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry), and they adopted twins in the series finale.
Comparing herself to Monica, Courteney said, “It's not like I let people do things for me, so I guess you can call me a control freak, or you can call me passionate. I'm not a passive person by any stretch of the imagination.”