In Friends, Joey reads a well-known children’s book. While his reading is already very moving, there is an even more upsetting reality behind this story written by Robert Munsch.
I will always love youOr Love You Forever in the original version, is a book by Robert Munsch. Although it was published in 1986, it is still very popular almost 40 years later. In France, it is less known than in the United States, but it is certain that all fans of Friends have already heard of it. In fact, in episode 4 of season 10, “The one who transformed the birthday cake”, Joey reads it for Rachel and Ross’ daughter Emma’s first birthday. As he repeats the poem that recurs several times in the book,“I’ll love you forever / I’ll always appreciate you / As long as I live / You’ll be my baby”no one can hold back their tears.
This passage is very moving, both in the book and when Joey Tribbiani reads it on screen, and it turns out that there is an even more moving story behind it. In 2016, the year celebrating the 30th anniversary of the publication of his book, Robert Munsch explained to HuffPost American that he was singing this poem to himself, in his head, when his wife gave birth to their second stillborn baby.
The author indicated that the song was a way for him to grieve, but that it was also too painful to sing out loud. “It was my way of crying”confided Robert Munsch. After this stillbirth, the doctors gave the couple devastating news, telling them that they would no longer be able to have biological children. About his feelings on learning this, the man who has dedicated his life to writing children’s literature simply says: “You know when someone comes up to you and punches you right in the solar plexus? That’s what it was like.”. He and his partner later adopted three children, Andrew, Julie and Tyya, and he continued to sing the song to himself in memory of their deceased babies.
One day, Robert Munsch had the idea to write a book around this poem, which is moving, but less sad than his personal story. While, usually, the stories he created came to him “gradually”, “this one came suddenly”. According to him, his wife was very moved when she heard the song for the first time. Decades later, Love You Forever is still one of his biggest hits and, according to him, it’s because it doesn’t just speak to children, but to parents as well: “The book is sort of an ideal, the way we hope things will happen. It’s the only one of my books that’s not a children’s book.”