I know a mom and daughter like this - where the mom was unbelievably pushy in regards to daughter, including a famous incident where she showed up at an elementary school teacher's house to complain about the grade her daughter was getting (make note - ELEMENTARY, like grades matter at that point
).
Anyway, her perfect daughter (who really is sweet, just has an infamously pushy mom) went off to college and had a complete meltdown. She ended up making some REALLY bad decisions which led her to having to come home spring semester and transfer to another school in the fall, where, thankfully, for her sake, she is doing much better.
It was a tremendous comedown for the whole family, and it has changed the mom - humiliating issues do that.... She and her daughter have a different relationship now, with the daughter exerting more control over her life. - Maybe, hopefully, your friend's mother/daughter relationship can make a change as well - and hopefully, it doesn't take a meltdown to do it.