What Friends Fans Missed About Monica And Richard's Relationship

While most "Friends" fanatics loved the strange and romantic relationship Monica Geller (Courteney Cox) shared with Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry), a pocket of fans still believe that Monica should have ended up with Richard Burke. Richard, played by Tom Selleck, was the last person to date Monica before she secretly got together with Chandler, per BuzzFeed. Many fans liked Richard more than Chandler, with YouTube publisher "The Take" even labeling Richard as "the one that got away."

The viewers who enjoyed watching Richard's love life unfold on "Friends," however, failed to see the potentially creepy side of his relationship with Monica. As BuzzFeed points out, Richard was 21 years older than Monica, though the age gap wasn't the main issue. The real problem was that Richard was close friend of Monica's parents, and knew her when she was a baby. "I mean, I'm dating a man whose pool I once peed in," Monica remarked in one episode, via NBC.

The Monica-and-Richard love story is beloved by many "Friends" fans, because Richard was the perfect boyfriend. He was tall, handsome, mature, and a successful ophthalmologist, as noted by The Take. Plus, he was very romantic. In Episode 13 of Season 3, for example, Richard surprised Monica with a bed full of roses and two glasses of wine (via Radio Times, Hand Bag Marinara).

One thing that fans might not have been paying attention to, however, was the fact that Monica and Richard never discussed their relationship goals until they were considering marriage. Upon talking to each other, they learned that Monica wanted to have kids and Richard didn't, because he already had children from his first marriage.

As Screen Rant points out, it was surprising for someone as old as Richard not to let Monica know early on that he didn't want to have more children. It also seemed very unlike Monica to simply "go with the flow" and not have answers until late into the relationship. Still, it was more believable for the characters to have the realization late than for them to get married without knowing.