Ross Geller from Friends tends to be interpreted as something of a fake nice guy because of his tendencies to complain about his problems. This isn’t fair on the character, though, as he had genuine reasons to feel that he was sometimes done wrong by life.
There were many things that went wrong for Ross and he was the friend who had the most embarrassing moments. If the sitcom context is taken away from his situation, then Ross’ unfortunate luck can be seen in an entirely different light, one where it's hard not to feel sympathy towards him. To this end, here are 10 saddest things about Ross Gellar.
This is one of the unresolved storylines in Friends, as Jack Gellar never seemed as bad as he came across in Ross’ admission. According to him, during his heart-to-heart with Sandy, Ross liked playing with dolls as a kid, only for Jack to come up to him and shame Ross for not being like a real boy.
Apparently, Jack also didn’t allow Ross to wear a tank top because he didn’t think it was manly. Following this, Ross developed an issue with masculinity in general and didn’t understand that it was okay to be sensitive as well, having been hurt so deeply as a child.
It’s actually a pretty big deal for someone to earn a doctorate. Considering Ross had to be in his early-20s when he got his, this was an incredible achievement. Unfortunately, this was a fact the friends always took pleasure in undermining.
While he wasn’t a medical professional, Ross really was a doctor. Instead of having this achievement celebrated, or at the very least acknowledged, Ross was made to feel as if it wasn’t a big deal. This also extended to his career, which was seen as a waste of time, despite his clear passion for it.
It’s not certain if Ross was outright bullied in high school, but it’s clear that he was hardly a popular guy. His only friend was Will, who himself was a sorry fellow who was bullied for his weight. Ross’ strange appearance at the time didn’t do him any favors either.
And yet, it wasn’t as if he wanted to fit in with the cool kids. Ross liked being who he was but was mocked for it. Being awful in sports, his clothes were stolen in gym class, embarrassing him into adulthood. It didn’t help that, upon learning this, Rachel instantly took to making fun of Ross about it.
The series premiere of Friends showed Ross as a heartbroken recent divorcee who was understandably still upset that his wife left him. While the friends kept their jokes at a minimum here, they were far less understanding later on.
After all, Ross’ three divorces were a running gag, as nobody considered that he was very sad about this fact. Ross never thought it to be a funny thing and was clearly ashamed of it whenever it was brought up. Unfortunately, he didn’t receive the kind of support required to overlook how he felt about his many heartbreaks.
Ross saw Chandler as his best friend due to their past in college, but the latter switched this sentiment over to Joey. Joey himself admitted that he and Chandler did stuff without Ross all the time, something that visibly made Ross sad.
He wasn’t Chandler’s first choice for best man either, despite Ross making Chandler his best man twice. Ross was also kicked out by the duo when he was staying with them. Taking his friendless past in high school into account, Ross didn’t seem to be anybody’s first choice friend.
Ross and Monica had many sibling moments over the course of the series. However, she didn’t take his big brother role seriously, nor did anyone else. When he tried to have the talk with Chandler over potentially hurting Monica, everybody laughed in Ross’ face.
It was obvious from his reaction that he didn’t appreciate being belittled, especially because he’d been speaking from a place of brotherly love. What’s more, this preyed on Ross’ insecurities so much that he had to seek out his parents’ validation to avoid feeling like less of a man.
Easily among the worst things the friends did to each other, they always made Ross a usual subject of their jokes. This ranged from his failed relationships and his doctorate to his high school and college past, and even towards his role as a father.
The sad thing is that Ross became so used to this that he tried to join in. This was evident when he attempted to make “Ross the Divorce Force” a nickname so that other, more cruel names didn’t bother him. Chandler even took a picture of Ross’ botched tan to make fun of him in the future.
Fans like to debate if Ross and Rachel really were on a break, and the whole issue stemmed from Ross’ insecurities over losing his romantic interest. While the girls did look into why he was so paranoid, Ross didn’t actually get any help over it.
This means he went by in life without addressing these insecurities and these issues kept nagging him till the end of the series. All his problems with women had a central conflict that he never ended up confronting or finding out about.
A storyline for a potential Friends season 11 would have been to see how Ben and Emma interacted. The problem was that they didn’t get to bond because neither lived with their father, meaning Ross couldn’t have both his children at the same time.
Many viewers even go so far as to calling Ross a bad parent because he seemingly neglected his children. However, the reality is that the guy didn’t have the chance to do so, and would’ve dearly loved to keep them. This was confirmed when Ross told Joey his heart broke every time he had to say goodbye to Ben and was equally sad it was happening with Emma, as well.
Susan is easily one of the most hated supporting characters on Friends. In-universe, though, she never got any comeuppance for tearing apart Ross’ life, even treating him like dirt for no reason. After all, she was the one who stole his wife and kid, yet acted as if Ross had done something wrong.
Ross was almost forced out of having his name added to Ben’s, as well as missing out on being in his son’s life. Not only that, but even Ross' friends found humor in the fact that his wife left him for a woman, over sympathizing with him that his marriage was ending.
