Who is Rachel's mom in Friends?

In the popular sitcom Friends, Rachel’s mother, Sandra Green, played an important role in forming Rachel’s background. Her character helps the audience to know more about Rachel’s family dynamic. She comes from a rich and privileged society that Rachel was once a part of until she moved out and became financially independent. Rachel’s mother appeared in three episodes of Friends with several mentions of her throughout the show. Her appearance plays an important part in highlighting the mother-daughter relationship and the love they have for each other, despite their differences. Here is the list of appearances of Sandra Green, Rachel’s mother, in Friends:

Season 2, Episode 11 titled "The One with the Lesbian Wedding"

This is the first appearance of Sandra Green, Rachel’s mother on the show. Sandra visits her daughter at Central Perk where Rachel works as a waitress. She expresses how proud she is of Rachel as she never worked in her entire life. At first, she was financially dependent on her father and then on her husband after their marriage. She loved how Rachel was earning on her own.

She then visits her apartment where she tells Rachel that she is getting a divorce from her father. Rachel was shocked at the news of her parent’s divorce as she always thought that their relationship was working well. Rachel confronts her mother and Sandra explains how she also wants to live a free and independent life just like Rachel. Sandra also stays for Carol and Susan’s wedding.

Season 2, Episode 22 titled "The One with the Two Parties"

In this episode, Monica and the group plan a surprise birthday party for Rachel and decide to invite only her mother. Since the divorce, Rachel’s parents keep fighting with each other and even had an argument at their daughter’s graduation ceremony. To avoid the tension between them, they decide to not invite her father, but he visits his daughter unannounced for her birthday. The group decides to split the party into two apartments to make sure that Rachel’s parents don't meet each other. The whole time, Rachel’s mother and father keep complaining about one another to Rachel to the point where she gets exhausted. In the end, both of them leave at the same time, and to prevent them from seeing each other the group shields them. Joey kisses Sandra so that she gets distracted while Leonard left the party.

Read More: Who are Rachel's sisters in Friends

Season 8, Episode 20 titled “The One with the Baby Show”

In this episode, Monica and Phoebe throw a baby shower for Rachel but forget to invite her mother. They invited her at the last minute, which Sandra didn’t like as she was aware of the baby shower. Throughout the entire party, she treated Monica badly as she held a grudge against her for the last-minute invitation. During the baby shower, she tells Rachel that she wants to stay with her and Ross to take care of the baby for eight weeks. Rachel couldn’t say no to her as she got scared about how she would handle the baby. When Ross gets to know about the situation he assures Rachel that everything will be sorted and convinces Sandra to drop the idea of living with them as he will take care of Rachel and the baby. In the end, when she is leaving the party Monica confronts her angrily due to which she walks off.

Who played the role of Rachel’s mother?

Margaret Julia "Marlo" Thomas, also known as Marlo Thomas played the role of Sandra Green, Rachel’s mother. She was born on November 21, 1937, and is an American actress, author, and producer. She is best known for her work in That Girl (1966–1971), Consenting Adult (1985), Nobody’s Child (1986) and so on. She has won three Primetime Emmy Awards, a Daytime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Grammy Award, and a Peabody Award for her work in TV. In 1996, She was nominated at the Primetime Emmys for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her guest appearance in Friends.

She was married to Phil Donahue who was a media personality, producer, and writer. They have five children together - four sons and one daughter.