Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer and Lisa Kudrow have published tributes to their late Friends co-star Matthew Perry, a day after Courteney Cox and Matt LeBlanc did the same.
“Oh boy this one has cut deep,” began Aniston’s Instagram caption, posted on Wednesday alongside a photo of the two young actors, a text between them and a clip of the series finale farewell between their two beloved characters, Chandler Bing and Rachel Green. “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,” she continued. “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.”
Perry, whose self-deprecating streak and cutting sarcasm as Chandler helped define the successful sitcom’s humor, died unexpectedly on 28 October at the age of 54. His cause of death remains under investigation, pending toxicology reports.
Aniston also recounted a text Perry sent her out of the blue, in which he said to her: “Making you laugh just made my day. It made my day :).”
“Matty, I love you so much and I know you are now completely at peace and out of any pain,” she wrote. “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, who played Chandler’s friend and former roommate Ross, also posted a picture of the two actors in character. “Matty, Thank you for ten incredible years of laughter and creativity,” he wrote. “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.”
The photo of the two characters, mugging in suit jackets, “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?’” he concluded, referencing one of Perry’s classic line deliveries.
In her Instagram tribute, Kudrow said: “Shot the pilot, Friends Like Us, got picked up then immediately, we were at the NBC Upfronts. Then … You suggested we play poker AND made it so much fun while we initially bonded. Thank you for that.
“Thank you for making me laugh so hard at something you said, that my muscles ached, and tears poured down my face EVERY DAY,” continued Kudrow, who played Phoebe. “Thank you for your open heart in a six way relationship that required compromise. And a lot of ‘talking.’”
She also touched on Perry’s history with addiction, saying: “Thank you for showing up at work when you weren’t well and then, being completely brilliant. Thank you for the best 10 years a person gets to have. Thank you for trusting me.
“Thank you for all I learned about GRACE and LOVE through knowing you,” she finished. “Thank you for the time I got to have with you, Matthew.”
Aniston, Schwimmer and Kudrow’s tributes followed messages from co-stars LeBlanc and Cox, who played Chandler’s roommate Joey and love interest Monica, respectively. LeBlanc wrote: “Matthew. It is with a heavy heart I say goodbye. The times we had together are honestly among the favorite times of my life. It was an honor to share the stage with you and to call you my friend. I will always smile when I think of you and I’ll never forget you. Never. Spread your wings and fly brother you’re finally free.
“Much love. And I guess you’re keeping the 20 bucks you owe me.”
Cox wrote that she is “so grateful for every moment” she had alongside Perry, alongside a clip from the show, which ran for 10 highly watched seasons from 1994 until 2004: “When you work with someone as closely as I did with Matthew, there are thousands of moments I wish I could share. For now here’s one of my favorites.”
Days after Perry’s death, all six cast members of the sitcom, including Lisa Kudrow, released a joint statement: “We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew. We were more than just castmates. We are a family. 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. For now, our thoughts and our love are with Matty’s family, his friends, and everyone who loved him around the world.”