There are very few casts as close as the six actors from the long-running '90s sitcom, Friends. Over the years, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, and Lisa Kudrow have shown that their bond runs as deep as the fictional one between Rachel Green, Monica Geller, Chandler Bing, Joey Tribbiani, and Ross Geller.
On October 28, Perry died of an apparent drowning at 54 years old, according to TMZ reports. “We are devastated to learn of Matthew Perry's passing,” a statement posted to the official Friends Instagram account reads. "He was a true gift to us all. Our heart goes out to his family, loved ones, and all of his fans."
The five-time Emmy-nominated actor has been open about his struggles with alcohol and drug addiction, especially in his 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing. While promoting his book, Perry spoke about the ways the Friends cast supported him as his addiction reached alarming heights during filming, particularly Aniston. “She was the one that reached out the most," he told Diane Sawyer. "You know, I'm really grateful to her for that.”
RIP, Matthew.
As a whole, Perry described the cast as “understanding” and “patient” in a 2022 interview with People.“It's like penguins. Penguins, in nature, when one is sick, or when one is very injured, the other penguins surround it and prop it up,” he said. “They walk around it until that penguin can walk on its own. That's kind of what the cast did for me.”
Here's how the cast and creators of Friends is paying tribute to Matthew Perry. This post may be updated.
Perry's five co-stars shared a joint statement to People on October 30, two days after his death.
"We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew. We were more than just cast mates. We are a family," their statement, signed by all five stars, reads. “There is so much to say, but right now we’re going to take a moment to grieve and process this unfathomable loss.”
“In time we will say more, as and when we are able,” the statement continues. "For now, our thoughts and our love are with Matty’s family, his friends, and everyone who loved him around the world."
“We are shocked and deeply, deeply saddened by our beloved friend Matthew’s passing,” Kauffman, Crane and Bright wrote in a statement, per People. “It still seems impossible. All we can say is that we feel blessed to have had him as part of our lives. He was a brilliant talent.”
They continued, “It’s a cliche to say that an actor makes a role their own, but in Matthew’s case, there are no truer words. From the day we first heard him embody the role of Chandler Bing, there was no one else for us.”
The statement concluded, “We will always cherish the joy, the light, the blinding intelligence he brought to every moment — not just to his work, but in life as well. He was always the funniest person in the room. More than that, he was the sweetest, with a giving and selfless heart.”
On November 15, Aniston, who played Rachel Green in Friends, took to Instagram to share a long tribute to her friend. The actress shared three slides. The first showed an old black and white photo of her and Perry laughing together. The second, a screenshot of a text from Perry, who sent her the same image and a message, which read, “Making you laugh just made my day. It made my day:).” Finally, Aniston shared a clip from Friends in which her character said goodbye to Perry's character.
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Alongside these images and video, Aniston wrote a long message about her relationship with Perry.
She wrote: "Oh boy this one has cut deep... Having to say goodbye to our Matty has been an insane wave of emotions that I’ve never experienced before. We all experience loss at some point in our lives. Loss of life or loss of love. Being able to really SIT in this grief allows you to feel the moments of joy and gratitude for having loved someone that deep. And we loved him deeply. He was such a part of our DNA. We were always the 6 of us. This was a chosen family that forever changed the course of who we were and what our path was going to be. For Matty, he KNEW he loved to make people laugh. As he said himself, if he didn't hear the ‘laugh’ he thought he was going to die. His life literally depended on it. And boy did he succeed in doing just that. He made all of us laugh. And laugh hard. In the last couple weeks, I’ve been pouring over our texts to one another. Laughing and crying then laughing again. I’ll keep them forever and ever. I found one text that he sent me out of nowhere one day. It says it all. (See the second slide…)
Matty, I love you so much and I know you are now completely at peace and out of any pain. I talk to you every day… sometimes I can almost hear you saying “could you BE any crazier?”
Rest little brother.
You always made my day…
❤️🕊️"
“What a loss.The world will miss you Mathew Perry," the actor who played Chandler's girlfriend Janice on Friends wrote on Instagram. "The joy you brought to so many in your too short lifetime will live on. I feel so very blessed by every creative moment we shared. ♥️”
The Criminal Minds actor also played one of Chandler's love interests on the show. “I’m so very sad to hear about @MatthewPerry,” she tweeted. "He was lovely to me on Friends and every time I saw him in the decades after. Please read his book. It was his legacy to help. He won’t rest in peace though.. He’s already too busy making everyone laugh up there."
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Fairchild, who played Chandler's mother Nora Bing tweeted, “I’m heartbroken about the untimely death of my ‘son,’ Matthew Perry. The loss of such a brilliant young actor is a shock. I’m sending love & condolences to his friends & family, especially his dad, John Bennett Perry, who I worked with on Flamingo Road & Falcon Crest.”
Tyler played Ross' love interest Dr. Charlie Wheeler in nine episodes of Friends. “He had a gentleness and generosity of spirit that was unparalleled," she wrote on Instagram. "I learned how to tell a joke perfectly just by watching him work. And I will never forget the moment he leaned in, on my first night of taping Friends, to tell me warmly, “get ready for your life to change.” Rest well, Matthew Perry. Thank you for the kindness and laughter. 🫶🏾💫”
This article originally appeared on GLAMOUR (US).
