Jennifer Aniston has admitted the cast of Friends were ‘mourning’ Matthew Perry long before his death.
The actor, best known for playing Chandler Bing in the beloved sitcom for a decade, died in October 2023, at the age of 54.
An autopsy later revealed that he had been killed by ‘acute effects of ketamine’.
Following an investigation, five people were charged in connection with his death.
During his life, Perry was very open about his substance abuse issues. He went into rehab 15 times and once estimated he’d spent about $9million (£6.7million) trying to get sober.
Nearly two years on from Perry’s death, his former Friends co-star Jennifer, who played Rachel Green, has spoken about witnessing his struggles with addiction for years.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, she explained that the cast – which also included Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer and Matt LeBlanc – had done ‘everything we could when we could’.
The actress, 56, said they’d all tried to help him during their time working together, as well as the years after.
‘But it almost felt like we’d been mourning Matthew for a long time because his battle with that disease was a really hard one for him to fight,’ she continued.
‘As hard as it was for all of us and for the fans, there’s a part of me that thinks this is better. I’m glad he’s out of that pain.’
Following Perry’s death, the cast of Friends released a joint statement together, before posting their own individual tributes on social media.
In hers, Jennifer 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 poring over our texts to one another. Laughing and crying then laughing again. I’ll keep them forever and ever. 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…’
On the day of his death, Jennifer had texted Perry, later explaining to Variety: ‘He was happy. He was healthy. He had quit smoking. He was getting in shape. He was happy — that’s all I know. He was not in pain. He wasn’t struggling. He was happy.’
She added: ‘I want people to know he was really healthy and getting healthy. He was on a pursuit. He worked so hard. He really was dealt a tough one. I miss him dearly. We all do. Boy, he made us laugh really hard.’
In his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, Perry wrote extensively about his drug and alcohol addictions, explaining how Friends viewers would be able to tell when he was taking drugs or drinking based on his weight or facial hair.
‘When I’m carrying weight, it’s alcohol; when I’m skinny, it’s pills; when I have a goatee, it’s a lot of pills,’ he explained.
He also shared: ‘Addiction has ruined so much of my life it’s not funny. It’s ruined relationships. It’s ruined the day-to-day process of being me.’
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