Jennifer Aniston's long-time hairstylist and friend Chris McMillan has revealed what prompted him to create the star's iconic 'Rachel' haircut while she was filming hit TV show Friends. Chris admitted that at the time he was trying to convince the actress to "try something a bit different" when he cut her locks into the world-famous style.
Jennifer Aniston rocked the 'Rachel' haircut in 1997
"I first created 'The Rachel' back when I met Jennifer, which was more than 20 years ago," he told The Telegraph. "We have been friends a long time. Back then, Jennifer had really long hair with a fringe.
"I told her she should grow her fringe out, get some highlights and just try something a bit different. We cut the length and added all in these layers to blend the bottom to the bangs – and the rest is history."
Chris McMillan created the iconic hairstyle
While nowadays Jennifer, 47, has been outspoken about how she eventually disliked the look because of the amount of maintenance involved, Chris revealed that the time the Just Go With It star was thrilled with her makeover to begin with.
"Her initial reaction was great, she loved it then," he said. "It was a really fun cut and different to anything else around at the time. It was an easy cut, but it needed regular trims to keep the layers looking sharp. It’s high-maintenance, not a wash-and-go style. You need to blow-dry with a round brush to help define all those flicks."
Jennifer herself recently spoke about her famous tresses, joking that when Chris cut in the gorgeous style he didn't think about her having to try and recreate the look herself.
Jennifer played Rachel Green in hit TV show Friends
"He didn't think about, like, 'Oh she's going to have to do this herself – I'm having a great time being creative with this blowdryer'," she quipped during an appearance on the Graham Norton Show. "Then leave me with the round brush and the hairdryer – and I don't know how to make it look like that!"
The actress, who is married to Justin Theroux, also confessed she was surprised at how iconic her hair had become – especially as it was such a short-lived look for the star during her ten years on the show.
"Honestly, that was about a year, the first season," she said when asked how long she rocked 'The Rachel' for. "By the second season it was gone – so that baby had some legs!"