the show's final season, Monica's personality has been "exacerbated for comedy" to the point of which she becomes borderline "cartoonish". Family and childhood; career and love life Monica has a complicated relationship with her parents Jack (Elliott Gould) and Judy Geller (Christina Pickles), particularly with her "hypercritical" mother. Entertainment Weekly called the character's relationship with her parents "esteem-sucking". Judy constantly criticizes her daughter's appearance, career and love life, while acting much kinder towards Ross, whom she favors. Chelsea Mize of Bustle observed that Monica and Ross' "wacky quirks become all the more understandable after ... seeing them with their parents." Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 author Vincent Terrance believes that Monica's competitive nature originates from having grown up constantly competing with Ross. Kriti Tulsiani of IBNLive described Monica and Ross' relationship as "A blend of love and sibling jealousy with an urge to irritate each other to the deepest core of existence", with Ross often making fun of his sister's weight and Monica teasing him about his several failed marriages in return. In terms of ethnicity, Crane confirmed that both Monica and Ross are half-Jewish, with their father being Jewish and their mother being of non-Jewish European ancestry. However, Television's Changing Image of American Jews categorized Monica as a "masked" Jew, explaining that "the smart, funny, and insecure Ross seems more Jewish" than Monica, who the author dismissed as "china-doll like" in appearance and demeanor. In his book Encyclopedia of American Jewish History, Volume 1, author Stephen Harlan Norwood agrees that, unlike the show's male Jews, Monica's Jewish "markers" have been virtually removed. Although Monica and Rachel have remained best friends since high school, they are very much opposites. While both characters share similar economic backgrounds, they grew up on "different ends of the high school social order", with Rachel being a popular cheerleader and Monica "deal[ing] with body and control issues due to being an overweight child and teen." Sabienna Bowman of This Was TV observed that "Monica's struggles ultimately left her more confident than Rachel, as well as more prepared for adulthood." Among her defining qualities, Monica has had a passion for cooking ever since childhood, stemming from when she received her first Easy-Bake Oven. A chef, the character has had several cooking-related jobs throughout the series, having worked at five different restaurants, a trend that nearly coincides with her constant rotation of boyfriends in an