Why Did Ross And Rachel Break Up?

 Friends is by far the one the most popular American television sitcoms which people till date, binge watch. It just never seems to get old. Ross and Rachel were one of the main couples of this series. Their relationship goes through many ups and downs throughout the series but we all knew that they were bound to end up together. Their relationship was hinted from the very beginning, with Rachel joining the group after running away from her wedding, and Ross making it obvious that, after all this time, he still had a crush on her. Their relationship was the main focus of the show for most of the time. 

Ross and Rachel broke up because Rachel became fed up with Ross’s clinginess and jealousy and asked for a break. Them taking a break led to Ross sleeping with an woman just hours after because he thought Rachel was with Mark.

The Beginning Of Ross & Rachel

Ross and Rachel met in high school. Ross was much older than her but developed a crush for her anyway but never ever made a move. After that Monica and Rachel drifted apart and met when Rachel ran away from her wedding and decided to stay with Monica. When he sees her then, we can see that he still has a crush on her. He tried to make a move but he kind of sucked at it so he didn’t succeed until Chandler mistakenly reveals that Ross is in love with Rachel on her birthday. That makes her want to run to the airport to speak to Ross about things. Unfortunately, Ross returns with someone else and that crushes Rachel realising that she has feelings for him now too. After sometime, Rachel ends up telling Ross how she feels about him and that confuses him but he chooses Rachel almost straight away. I mean, that’s what he dreamt about since he saw her for the first time.

We’d all think that now things would go perfectly well for the two of them but no, that doesn’t happen. Rachel ends up finding the Pros And Cons list that Ross made of her and Julie to decide between the two and their relationship ends at that point. 

Their Honeymoon Phase

After seeing the list, Rachel refused to date Ross. It seemed like that was going to be the end for the two of them but fortunately the gang finds Monica and Rachel’s old prom video. In the video they see that Ross got ready to take Rachel to prom because she got stood up by her date. Unbeknownst to her, Ross goes upstairs, puts on a suit, and prepares to step in as her prom date. But, when he made it down the stairs, Rachel’s date had showed up and they’d left. Rachel had no idea that this had happened and in awe of what he did, she ended up kissing him. Now, they were finally together. They were extremely happy together but we all know that doesn’t last long. 

Were They Really On A Break? 

After trying to land a job in fashion, Rachel finally gets her dream job. There’s just one problem though, her work schedule and friendship with her co-worker, Mark starts to get in the way of her and Ross’ relationship. He starts to become jealous and overprotective of her but she starts feeling suffocated by it. On the night of their anniversary, Rachel had to work late, so Ross showed up to her office with dinner so that they could spend it together. Rachel was too busy with work to pay attention to Ross and got upset with his persistence. She then asked him to leave so she could focus on her work. Later that evening, Rachels goes home and expects Ross will apologize to her  but Ross expects her to apologize to him. That turned into a big fight and Ross brought up her co-worker, Mark which infuriated Rachel and she asked if they could take a break from their relationship. Ross gets mad and leaves without saying a word. 

Following their breakout, Ross goes to the bar and meets Chandler and Joey. Meanwhile, Mark called Rachel and insisted on coming over to console her. Ross then called Rachel to talk, but heard Mark’s voice on the other line and assumed she had already moved on. He hung up the phone and went back to his friends at the bar. Around the same time, Chloe,  a woman he knew from the copy shop tried to cheer him up by drinking and dancing with him. The two ended up hitting it off and going home together. The next morning, Ross listened to his answering machine to discover Rachel had called him and wanted to get back together. In her message, she said she would be over in the morning before work to talk to him which was around the same time that he was listening to the message. Ross panicked and tried to hide Chloe when Rachel knocked on the door. The two worked things out, but it didn’t last long. Later in the day, Rachel found out about Ross and Chloe and ended things officially. 

Rachel was obviously hurt about the fact that Ross didn’t waste any time to move on but Ross thought that it was okay because they were on a break. So technically, they weren’t together. That doesn’t work for Rachel and they end up breaking up. 

Ross And Rachel’s Lobster Love

During the series, Phoebe uses an analogy to explain Ross and Rachel’s relationship but saying that he’s her lobster. Which means that they mate for life. This analogy turns out to be true throughout the series because Ross and Rachel have an on and off relationship. The two almost ended up back together when Rachel wrote Ross a letter in which he had to take full responsibility for what happened. Ross, however, didn’t read the letter and when Rachel discovered the truth, she ended things with him again. Ross then moved on and met Emily and when they were about to get married, Rachel decided to tell him how she was still in love with him. But she couldn’t go through with it after seeing him so happy with Emily. Luckily for her, when Ross accidentally said: “I take thee Rachel” during the ceremony, it didn’t end up going well for him and Emily. She only agreed to remain married to Ross if he never saw Rachel again which he said he couldn’t do, leading Emily to file for divorce. 

After Ross’ divorce from Emily, Ross and Rachel got drunkenly married in Las Vegas. After realising they’d accidentally tied the knot, Rachel asked for an annulment which Ross was unsure about as it would be his third divorce. But they eventually got divorced. Before Chandler and Monica’s wedding, Ross and Rachel spent a drink-fuelled night together resulting in her falling pregnant. The two don’t rekindle their relationship, but they move in together and co-parent their daughter. 

Finally, towards the end of the series, Rachel decides to move to Paris because she gets an offer for a better job there. But Ross realised that he couldn’t let her go because he was still in love with her. So he rushes to the airport to tell her how he feels but she still decides to get on the plane anyway. As luck would have it, Rachel gets off the plane and tells Ross that she loves him too. The two finally get back together again and that is the end.

Wrapping Up

This shows how their relationship relationship was by far the most complicated relationship throughout the series. What do you think about their relationship? Let us know down below.