married." Before marrying Cox, Arquette had guest starred in an episode of Friends as Phoebe's love interest. During season 10, Cox got pregnant with her and Arquette's child. At that same time, her character and on-screen husband were going through the process of adopting a child. Like Monica and Chandler, Cox and Arquette had also struggled with conceiving in real life. Although Kudrow's real-life pregnancy had successfully been written into the show, the same could not have been done for Cox because Friends had already long-established that Monica is incapable of having children. Therefore, the crew attempted to conceal Cox's pregnancy using a combination of baggy, loose-fitting costumes and props instead. However, at times the actress' growing belly was still detectable by viewers in spite of the crew's best efforts. Characterization and themes Codependency and neuroticism At the beginning of season one, Monica is 25 years old. Rita Loiacono of SheKnows Media believes Monica was the show's most fully realized character from the beginning of the series because her "quirks were developed to a tee." Like several strong female sitcom characters popular throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Monica possesses a natural maternal instinct, constantly "vocalising a desire for motherhood." As the group's "unofficial den mother", Monica fulfills the role of their mother hen, and is thus often perceived as the most level-headed member of the sextet, with Ken Parish Perkins of the Chicago Tribune identifying Monica as the show's most grounded character. Jill O'Rourke of Crushable described her as "the glue that held the group together." Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly believes that Monica serves as "the solid center in a circle of wacky pals" due to her "sunny" personality, combined with the fact that she maintains a steady job while appearing to possess the most common sense. Furthermore, Tucker identified Monica as the show's "straight woman". Writing for The New York Times, John J. O'Connor believes that Monica exhibits "the strongest ties to reality" as the sitcom's most realistically portrayed character. Bustle's James Tison agreed that Monica is the show's most relatable character. Referring to Monica as one-half of the series' "head friends", the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Robert Bianco described the character as sensible, explaining that both her and brother Ross represent "the relatively stable centers around which the other friends rotate." Describing her as "ultra-competent", Natural Living Todays Emily Nussbaum likened Monica to the fairy tale character Snow White,