Why legendary Friends star decided to quit Hollywood for unexpected career change
They've swapped acting for a very different world.
To a generation of Friends fans, Jane Sibbett will forever be Carol Willick.
The 62-year-old actress is best known for playing the first wife of Ross Geller (David Schwimmer) in the iconic sitcom, playing a key role on the show between 1994 and 2001.
Her character made TV history when Carol was involving in the first lesbian wedding on network television, but now she’s living a life away from the limelight.
For the last decade, Jane has quit Hollywood and left acting behind for a very different role as an energy healer.
‘I’m working on the memoir of this whole situation, and one of my mentors had said, “Go back before the gift,”‘ she told People. ‘The gift has been here 10 years now. When I work with the dancing hands, it’s not me.
‘It’s source energy coming through me, and so I just feel nothing but bliss and joy and love when I am in this state.’
Jane’s character Carol made TV history after her split from Ross (Picture: Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images) She had a recurring role on the classic sitcom (Picture: Gary Null/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)She’d discovered a passion for healing during her time in Topanga, California before moving to Hawaii with then-husband Karl Fink.
The couple – who split during their time on the island – were working together on a documentary about healer Abdy Electriciteh, who helped Jane find her interest.
‘He tapped me on my third eye and I went down, I passed out into the state of bliss for about an hour,’ she said.
‘There was no thought, there was no fear, there was just — you can’t even say it, but on the other side of it, days later, it was bliss.
She has since quit Hollywood for a whole new career (Picture: Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for MarVista Entertainment) The former actress has swapped Hollywood for healing (Picture: Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images)‘Some people came up to me afterward and [said], “We see this light coming off of your hands,” because while I was under, my hands started to dance.’
She has since founded the appropriately-titled Jane’s Dancing Hands company, while she pointed out her ‘gift’ wasn’t something that was ‘trained’ or taught.
‘This just came in fully fleshed, immediately,’ she explained. ‘I started to feel the way that source energy or God energy was moving through me.
She was almost cast as Rachel Green (Picture: Paul Drinkwater/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)‘Then somebody said, “Hey, you were so good at that. I know somebody else who needs your help,” and so I went to one person, and then I did the next person, and I did the next.’
Jane’s life could have turned out very differently, as she previously revealed she auditioned for the part of Rachel Green, which of course went to Jennifer Aniston.
‘They wanted me to be one of the main six,’ she told ‘It was actually Rachel but I usually don’t tell people that because Jen… There’s no one who could’ve done it like Jen.’
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