How the Friends Cast Paid Tribute to Matthew Perry
Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, and more honored their late costar and longtime friend, who passed away at the age of 54 last month.
The one where they all said goodbye to a friend.
The cast of Friends is honoring Matthew Perry following the actor’s tragic and unexpected death last month.
On October 28, Perry — who was best known for his role as Chandler Bing on the long-running sitcom — passed away at the age of 54 after an apparent drowning at his Los Angeles home. Immediately upon the news of his death, social media was flooded with tributes to the 54-year-old actor, whose life and work had touched millions across the globe.
Among those who spoke out were Perry’s former Friends cast members — Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer — who released a joint statement following his passing.
“We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew. We were more than just cast mates. We are a family,” the cast said in their 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.”
“We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew. We were more than just cast mates. We are a family,” they began. “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 group continued. “For now, our thoughts and our love are with Matty’s family, his friends, and everyone who loved him around the world.”
The core six, including Perry, Aniston, Cox, Kudrow, LeBlanc, and Schwimmer, of course, rose to fame on Friends, which ran for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004. The cast reunited for the Friends: The Reunion special in 2021.
The group were all in attendance at Perry’s funeral earlier this month, with the late actor being laid to rest at Forest Lawn cemetery in Hollywood Hills.
Meanwhile, in addition to their joint statement, the cast of Friends released individual tributes on social media. Aniston, Cox, LeBlanc, and Schwimmer honored Perry on Instagram this week, sharing heartfelt posts, in which they mourned his passing, while also recalling fond and funny memories of Perry, including his ability to make people laugh.
See how they all paid tribute in the posts, below.
Jennifer Aniston
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Jennifer Aniston — who starred as Rachel Green on Friends — shared a carousel on Instagram, including a heartwarming black-and-white photo of herself and Perry on set, which she revealed Perry sent her one day “out of nowhere.”
“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,” she began in her lengthy caption. “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,” Aniston continued. “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…)”
The second slide featured the black-and-white shot of the actress and Perry, who wrote, per the screenshot of the text message, “Making you laugh just made my day. It made my day:)”
Aniston ended her caption on an emotional note, writing, “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… ❤️🕊️.”
The Emmy winner also included a clip from the final season of Friends in her carousel. The video included a sweet moment, in which Chandler (Perry) and Rachel (Aniston) share an emotional goodbye.
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Courteney Cox posted a touching tribute to Instagram as well, sharing a clip of the iconic moment from Friends, in which her character Monica and Perry’s Chandler sleep together for the first time while at Ross (David Schwimmer’s) wedding in London.
“I am so grateful for every moment I had with you Matty and I miss you every day,” Cox began. “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.”
“To give a little backstory, Chandler and Monica were supposed to have a one night fling in London,” she continued. “But because of the audience’s reaction, it became the beginning of their love story. In this scene, before we started rolling, he whispered a funny line for me to say. He often did things like that.”
“He was funny and he was kind. 🤍🕊️,” she added.
Matt LeBlanc
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Matt LeBlanc — who played Chandler’s best friend and roommate, Joey Tribbiani — honored Perry with a heartfelt tribute on Instagram, posting a serious of throwback photos of himself and the late actor, including two photos of their characters hugging during a scene.
“Matthew It is with a heavy heart I say goodbye. The times we had together are honestly among the favorite times of my life,” LeBlanc captioned his post. “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.”
David Schwimmer
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David Schwimmer shared a hilarious throwback photo of his character Ross and Perry’s Chandler dressed in Miami Vice-inspired outfits, with the two striking a pose for the camera. Schwimmer described the photo as one of his “favorite moments” with his late costar.
“Matty, Thank you for ten incredible years of laughter and creativity,” he began his post. “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,” he added. “Which you were generous with, and shared with us, so we could create a family out of six strangers.”
Schwimmer continued, “This photo is from one of my favorite moments with you. Now it makes me smile and grieve at the same time.”
He concluded his post with a funny, yet sweet sendoff: “I imagine you up there, somewhere, in the same white suit, hands in your pockets, looking around — ‘Could there BE any more clouds?'”
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