Friends stars Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer pen touching tributes to Chandler Bing actor Matthew Perry following his tragic passing. First airing in 1994, creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane's show would go on to become the sitcom that defined a generation, introducing audiences to six lovable twenty-somethings navigating friendship, romance, and their careers in New York City. On October 28, 2023, almost 20 years since the show concluded, the Friends cast had to say goodbye to one of their own, with Perry suddenly passing away at the age of 54.
Now, following a joint statement put out several weeks ago, Aniston, who played Rachel Green, has released a statement on her Instagram account, honoring her late Friends costar in an emotional caption and sharing a screenshot of a touching text interaction the two of them had. You can check out Aniston's post and caption below:
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…
❤️🕊️
Schwimmer, too, has taken to social media to honor Perry, sharing a favorite photo of the two of them together and further attesting to the late actor's "impeccable comic timing and delivery". Check out Schwimmer's post and caption below:
Matty,
Thank you for ten incredible years of laughter and creativity.
I will never forget your impeccable comic timing and delivery. You could take a straight line of dialogue and bend it to your will, resulting in something so entirely original and unexpectedly funny it still astonishes.
And you had heart. Which you were generous with, and shared with us, so we could create a family out of six strangers.
This photo is from one of my favorite moments with you. Now it makes me smile and grieve at the same time.
I imagine you up there, somewhere, in the same white suit, hands in your pockets, looking around—
“Could there BE any more clouds?”
What Other Friends Actors Have Said About Matthew Perry
Two days after Perry's passing, the cast of Friends released a joint statement to People. "There is so much to say, but right now we’re going to take a moment to grieve and process this unfathomable loss," the statement reads. Before offering "thoughts and love" to Perry's family and friends, the five cast members promised that "in time we will say more."
After this joint statement acknowledging what had happened, actor Matt LeBlanc, who played Chandler's best friend Joey, was the first of the core cast to properly honor his late costar with a post on social media on November 14. "The times we had together are honestly among the favorite times of my life," he writes in his Instagram caption. After promising that he'll "never forget" Perry, he ends by saying that the actor is "finally free," a reference to Perry's long and open history with addiction.
Monica Gellar actor Courteney Cox was next to pen a tribute, using her post to highlight what a generous friend and costar Perry was. The actor shared a behind-the-scenes look at Monica and Chandler's first romantic encounter in London, revealing that Perry would often suggest funny improvised lines for her to say. She ends her caption with: "He was funny and he was kind," which is seemingly a summation of how most who knew Perry would describe him. Phoebe actor Lisa Kudrow has not yet shared a more detailed statement regarding the death of her beloved Friends costar.
Source: Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer
