She’ll be there for him.
One year after Matthew Perry’s tragic death at age 54, his friend and co-star Jennifer Aniston has paid tribute to him.
On Monday, Oct. 28, Aniston, 55, posted throwback photos of herself with Perry. It’s undated, but their hairstyles indicate it was from the first or second season of “Friends” in the early 1990s.
Next to one image, she wrote, “1 year,” along with a bandaged heart emoji and a dove emoji.
Aniston also tagged the Matthew Perry Foundation in her caption.
Per the foundation’s official Instagram bio, it is “continuing Matthew’s enduring commitment to helping others struggling with the disease of addiction.”
The “Friends” alum died on Oct. 28, 2023, at his home in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles. An autopsy performed by the LA County Medical Examiner’s Office revealed he died from a ketamine overdose. The report listed the manner of death as accidental drowning.
However, in August, five arrests were made in connection to his death amid an investigation.
“These defendants took advantage of Mr. Perry’s addiction issues to enrich themselves. They knew what they were doing was wrong,” US Attorney Martin Estrada said at a Los Angeles press conference announcing the charges.
Shortly after Perry passed away, Aniston paid tribute to him with a long Instagram note, calling him “brother.”
Fellow “Friends” cast members Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, Lisa Kudrow and his on-screen wife, Courteney Cox, also spoke out, and all five attended his private funeral.
Perry had been open about his lifelong struggles with addiction and sobriety.
The “17 Again” star described in his memoir, “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing,” that he attended about 6,000 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and went to rehab 15 times during his lifetime. At the height of his struggles, he also would take 55 Vicodin pills a day, with his weight dropping to 128 pounds at one point.
A source recently told The Post that when Perry was filming the 2021 “Friends” reunion for Max, the actor was “sweet,” “silly” and “giggling between takes.”
“He gave a lot of praise to his cast members — saying all the same sweet things they said about him, so you know their love and bond was true,” the insider said.
And Perry’s friends were there for him even when the cameras weren’t rolling. According to the source, at one point during the taping, Perry was “dozing off on the couch in between takes,” exhausted from emergency dental surgery he had just days before. Seemingly noticing this and wanting to help a friend in need, Schwimmer got up, sat next to Perry on the couch and wrapped his arm around him.
“It was a testament to how sweet and locked in they all were with each other,” the source said.
Perry was survived by his parents and siblings.
On Monday, on the one-year anniversary of his death, Perry’s mother, Suzanne, his “Dateline” host stepdad, Keith Morrison, and his sisters, Emily, Caitlin and Madeleine, appeared on “Today” to reminisce about Perry.
“[To light up a room is] something you’re born with or you’re not born with. And he was certainly born with it in spades,” Morrison, 77, said about his stepson.
“But it must be said, I think,” Suzanne chimed in, “that he was also very lonely in his soul.”
Perry’s mom continued: “I’m a very lucky woman, but there was one glitch. There was one problem that I couldn’t conquer. I couldn’t help him.”
“You’ve got to stop blaming yourself because it tears you up.”
Morrison, who married Suzanne in 1981, recalled that Perry was “often [a] very sad guy.”
“It was always a jubilant thing when he would come over,” Perry’s sister Caitlin said. “Even when he was struggling in dark times we were always proud of him. We were always proud of the fact that he kept fighting and that he made it a big focus of his life to help other people.”
The “Friends” star’s sister Emily added, “All he ever wanted was to love and to be loved. He struggled so much to feel peace. And I think he got to a place where he did.”
Perry’s mom and stepfather also recalled the moment they got the horrible news.
“Somebody called Suzanne and he just said ‘Matthew’s dead,’” Morrison recalled, without saying who relayed the news.
“‘Matthew’s dead,’” his mother recalled hearing. “‘Your son is dead.’”
“What he taught the world was that no amount of money will cure an addict. It needs something else. And that’s what we are trying to do,” Morrison explained, referring to how his family set up the Matthew Perry Foundation that Aniston referenced in her Instagram tribute.
