There’s an episode of the sitcom Friends during which Rachel asks Phoebe: “How have you never been on Oprah?” The question is posed as a joke, but it’s not far off base, considering Phoebe Buffay’s life was riddled with intense trauma. Although her disturbing life experiences were usually the butt of a joke seemingly added to the script for shock value, it doesn’t make them any less harrowing. Here are a few examples: Phoebe’s mother died by suicide from carbon monoxide poisoning . Her father abandoned her as a baby, and her stepdad went to prison (before his incarceration, he used to sell his blood to buy Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) food on her birthday). At the age of 14, she lived on the street. There was also a brief period where she resided in a “burnt out Buick LeSabre” — until she got hepatitis when a pimp spit in her mouth. She also used to mug people (including David Schwimmer’s Ross), and she mentions that she once stabbed a cop (but only because he stabbed her first).