The 49th Annual People’s Choice Awards aired this weekend, and all kinds of stars showed up and showed out to celebrate the people and their various pop culture-related choices.
One such star was Rachel Zegler, who took home the award for Action Movie Star of the Year for her role as Lucy Gray Baird in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
Another star in attendance was Jennifer Aniston, who presented the Icon Award to her close friend and co-star, Adam Sandler, before taking home an award herself for TV Drama Star for her role as Alex Levy on The Morning Show.
And—in an interesting moment of meta seating arrangements—Rachel and Jennifer were seated side-by-side at the same table for the entire length of the ceremony.
And why, you ask, is this fact in any way, shape, or form “meta?”
Well you see, my dear reader, Rachel is—quite literally—named after Jennifer Aniston’s beloved character Rachel Green from Friends, a factoid she recently shared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon during her press tour for the aforementioned Hunger Games prequel:
When directly asked about the naming rumor by Jimmy, Rachel confirmed it, saying, “I was named after Rachel Green from Friends. That is real. That is a real fact, and nobody ever believes me because they think that there’s no way that I’m young enough to be named after [a character from Friends], but I am!”
She goes on to explain that her mother simply “loved the way [the name] sounded on Friends for Jennifer Aniston” and even joked that, if “Rachel” hadn’t panned out, she “could’ve been been named ‘Ross,’ who knows!”
Naturally, fans of both actors were quick to point out the delightful moment, hoping that Rachel’s mom is getting a kick out of the seating arrangement:
So, there you have it. But still, I’m going to need to see some sort of official reaction from Rachel’s mom because I love a full-circle moment.
