Jennifer Aniston's "Friends'" character Rachel Green was not only her shot-to-fame but also became the reason for being "typecast" that she faced in the industry for a very long time even after the show was over. "The Morning Show" actress opened up about her struggles with the character in a roundtable discussion with actresses Janelle Monáe, Zendaya, Reese Witherspoon, Helena Bonham Carter, and Rose Byrne.

"I could not get Rachel Green off of my back for the life of me," Aniston, 51, said during The Hollywood Reporter's Drama Actress Roundtable on Wednesday. She admitted that she struggled to "escape Rachel from 'Friends'" and had to fight hard to prove to the industry that she was more than just the much-popular character of the megahit sitcom.

"I completely just fought with myself and who I was in this industry forever because it was just constantly about trying to prove I was more than that," Aniston added.

The actress said it was not until "The Good Girl," she was really able to "shed whatever Rachel character was, and to be able to disappear into someone who wasn't." The 2002 flick featured Aniston as Justine Last, an unmotivated 30-year-old woman alongside John C. Reilly and Jake Gyllenhaal. The movie released two years before the iconic comedy show concluded. She said the movie role brought much "relief" to her.

"But I remember the panic that set over me, thinking, 'Oh God, I don't know if I can do this. Maybe they're right. Maybe everybody else is seeing something I'm not seeing, which is you are only that girl in the New York apartment with the purple walls.' So, I was almost doing it for myself just to see if I could do something other than that. And it was terrifying because you're doing it in front of the world," Aniston explained.

Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Aniston at the premiere of the animated movie Storks Reuters

The virtual roundtable conference was originally planned to take place two weeks before it actually did because of the anti-racism protests following the death of George Floyd. During the conference, the six actresses talked about "dismantling racism and fighting to typecast."