Jennifer Aniston has paid moving tribute to her late Friends castmate Matthew Perry.
The actor, best known for his portrayal of sarcastic jokester Chandler Bing, was found dead at his home in Los Angeles, California, on 23 October. He was 54.
On Wednesday (15 November) Aniston, who played Rachel Green on the ultra-popular NBC sitcom, shared a message about Perry on Instagram, around the same time her co-star David Schwimmer also shared a heartfelt tribute.
“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,” the Morning Show star, 54, began.
“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…),” Aniston continued.
“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?’” she concluded. “Rest little brother. You always made my day…”
Aniston’s poignant tribute comes the day after co-stars Courteney Cox and Matt LeBlanc remembered Perry in separate Instagram posts.
On 30 October, the show’s lead stars released a joint statement asking for time to “process this unfathomable loss”.
They wrote: “We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew. We were more than just cast mates. 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.”
His 3 November funeral service at the Forest Lawn cemetery in the Hollywood Hills was attended by all of the core Friends cast members, including Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Schwimmer, Cox, and LeBlanc.
Earlier this week, Perry’s death certificate was released by the Los Angeles Police Department.
According to the paperwork, his cause of death remains “deferred” pending further investigation, after initial toxicology tests revealed there was “no meth or fentanyl” in Perry’s system at the time of his death.
