Phoebe was once Monica's roommate.
    She's best described as an off-beat, eternally optimistic folk-singer. She performs most of her work at Central Perk - who could ever forget 'Smelly Cat' or 'The Two of Them Kissed Last Night'.
    Phoebe's family life has been far from simple. She has a twin sister, Ursula, with whom she doesn't get on very well. Her childhood was unsettled - her father left when she was young, her step-father ended up in prison and her mother killed herself in the kitchen whilst Phoebe was building a snowman in the garden.
    Later in life, it comes out that she's married a gay guy called Duncan to help him get a green card - but he's not gay and wants a divorce so he could marry the girl he loves!
    Her taxi-driving Grandmother revealed to her that the pictures of her real father were the pictures that actually came in the frames and her 'real' real father is a pharmacist who lives in upstate New York. Phoebe eventually met up with her half-brother, Frank Junior, who's hobby is melting things.
    Just when you think things couldn't get much more complicated, Phoebe finds out that her mother's best friend - called 'Phoebe' - is actually her real mother!
    And you thought your life was complicated!