Friends cast members share emotional tributes to Matthew Perry
Stars from the beloved sitcom are honouring their costar, who died last month at age 54.
The cast of Friends is honouring the memory of costar Matthew Perry, who died last month at 54 years old.
Perry, who played Chandler Bing on the iconic sitcom, was found unresponsive in his Los Angeles home on an October afternoon, law enforcement officers confirmed to several outlets, including the Los Angeles Times. An official cause of death has not been provided.
Warner Bros., which produced Friends, issued a statement about the star in response to the news. “We are devastated by the passing of our dear friend Matthew Perry,” it reads. “Matthew was an incredibly gifted actor and an indelible part of the Warner Bros. Television Group family. The impact of his comedic genius was felt around the world, and his legacy will live on in the hearts of so many. This is a heartbreaking day, and we send our love to his family, his loved ones, and all of his devoted fans.”
Friends cast members and guest stars have taken to social media to mourn the shocking loss. Below, see all of their heartfelt tributes so far.
Matt LeBlanc
LeBlanc, who played Perry’s longtime roommate and best friend Joey on Friends, was the first person from the core cast to break his silence on social media after Perry’s passing. On Instagram, LeBlanc posted show stills of the two together, as well as a behind-the-scenes photo of the main cast embracing.
“It is with a heavy heart I say goodbye. The times we had together are honestly among the favourite times of my life,” LeBlanc wrote. “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 in a very “á la Joey and Chandler” manner, he concluded his tribute with a lighthearted joke: “And I guess you’re keeping the 20 bucks you owe me.”
Jennifer Aniston
Aniston, who played Rachel on the sitcom, penned a long, heartfelt goodbye to her friend.
“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 wrote on Instagram next to a black-and-white photo of them laughing together.
“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,” she continued.
In her post, Aniston also added a screenshot of a text exchange between them—in which Perry said he loved making Aniston laugh—and a clip of their emotional goodbye in the Friends series finale, when Rachel was getting ready to move to Paris.
“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,” Aniston wrote. “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…”
Courteney Cox
As a tribute to her longtime friend, Cox shared a clip on Instagram from one of the most popular Chandler-and-Monica scenes from Friends, in which the two spend the night together for the first time.
“I am so grateful for every moment I had with you Matty and I miss you every day,” she wrote in the caption, following up with a story about the scene.
“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 favourites,” Cox wrote. “To give a little backstory, Chandler and Monica were supposed to have a one night fling in London. But because of the audience’s reaction, it became the beginning of their love story.”
She noted: “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. 🤍🕊️”
Lisa Kudrow
The actor, who played Phoebe on the show, shared a throwback photo of herself with Perry on Instagram.
“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,” she recalled in the caption, thanking Perry for the good times they had throughout their Friends journey.
“Thank you for making me laugh so hard at something you said, that my muscles ached, and tears poured down my face EVERY DAY. Thank you for your open heart in a six-way relationship that required compromise. And a lot of 'talking.' Thank you for showing up at work when you weren’t well and then, being completely brilliant,” she continued. “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. Thank you for the time I got to have with you, Matthew.”
David Schwimmer
The actor shared a throwback photo of himself and Perry, from an episode of Friends in which they hilariously played younger versions of themselves.
“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,” Schwimmer wrote.
In the photo, Schwimmer wears an electric blue suit, yellow shirt, and a Grease-esque hairdo, while Perry wears a white suit over a red shirt.
Schwimmer concluded, “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?'”
Friends cast
“We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew. We were more than just cast mates. We are a family,” the sitcom’s famous main cast said in a statement shared to ABC News on Monday. “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 continues: “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.”
Jim Burrows
Burrows, who directed the first four episodes of the sitcom, reflected on Perry’s death during an interview on Today earlier in November. “He was incredibly inventive,” he said of the late actor. “He was inventive with how he did a line.”
Burrows also touched on how he and the Friends cast have been dealing with the tragic news. “I had to have a couple of days to just let it soak in. He was part of a family, and he was the first one to not be part of that family anymore,” he said.
He added that he reached out to the female cast members—Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, and Lisa Kudrow—on the day of Perry's death. “I had texted the girls the day we found out,” he said. “They were destroyed. It’s a brother dying.”
Maggie Wheeler
The actor—who played Chandler’s on-and-off girlfriend Janice Hosenstein throughout the sitcom’s 10-season run—posted a still from the series in which she and Perry stand arm in arm.
“What a loss,” she wrote. “The world will miss you Mathew Perry. The joy you brought to so many in your too short lifetime will live on. I feel so very blessed by every creative moment we shared. ♥️”
Morgan Fairchild
Fairchild—who played Chandler’s mom on the sitcom—shared an image from the episode “The One With Monica and Chandler’s Wedding.”
“I’m heartbroken about the untimely death of my ‘son,’ Matthew Perry. The loss of such a brilliant young actor is a shock. I’m sending love & condolences to his friends & family, especially his dad, John Bennett Perry, who I worked with on Flamingo Road & Falcon Crest. #RIPMatthew.”
Kathleen Turner
Kathleen Turner, who played Helena Handbasket, Chandler’s transgender father, on Friends, is also mourning her onscreen child’s passing.
The actor told People that she is “very sad for Matthew” and remembered a sweet moment they shared. “He came to see one of my Broadway shows and he came backstage,” Turner recalled. “When he saw me, he yelled out, ‘Hey, Dad!’ and everyone thought it was pretty cool. I think it was for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”
Though the last time Turner saw Perry was at least 10 years ago, she said she always liked him. “He had a good sense of humor and a good heart. He liked other people, which, to me, is terribly important, especially for an actor.”
Hank Azaria
Azaria was a recurring guest star on Friends as Phoebe Buffay’s on-and-off love interest David (the scientist guy).
Over the years, Azaria and Perry became very close, and Azaria said Perry greatly helped him deal with his own battle with addiction—even taking Azaria to his first AA meeting. Upon learning of Perry’s death, Azaria shared a heartfelt video tribute to his friend on Instagram, in which he recalled the great times they had together, and what a genuine, loving person Perry was when he was sober.
Calling Perry his “first friend” in Los Angeles, Azaria praised the comedian, saying that they were “really more like brothers for a long time.”
"We drank a lot together, and we laughed a lot together. We were there for each other in the early days of our career,” Azaria said. “He was as funny as he was on Friends and on other things too, in person he was just the funniest man ever.”
Azaria noted that Perry was a comedic genius and “lived to laugh.” The only thing he wishes, he said, is that Perry had found it in himself to remain sober, and that the world had gotten to see more of him.
Elliot Gould, who played Ross and Monica Geller's father, and Chandler Bing's father-in-law, in Friends, remembered Perry warmly in an Instagram post. “I was saddened to hear the news about Matthew Perry‘s passing,” he wrote next to a throwback photo of them together. “I first met Matthew in 1994 when I joined the NBC sitcom Friends. Matthew was kind, thoughtful, smart, funny, and just a terrifically, talented actor. Matthew told me he was so honored to be working with me. What he didn’t know until I told him, was that it was my privilege to play his father-in-law. My heart goes out to his wonderful family. He will be missed by so many but he will never be forgotten.”
Aisha Tyler
The actress played Ross Geller's short-term, fellow paleontologist girlfriend, Charlie Wheeler, in the sitcom. Upon Perry's death, she shared a message on Instagram in his honor. “He had a gentleness and generosity of spirit that was unparalleled,” she wrote next to a black-and-white photo of Perry. “I learned how to tell a joke perfectly just by watching him work. And I will never forget the moment he leaned in, on my first night of taping Friends, to tell me warmly, 'get ready for your life to change.' Rest well, Matthew Perry. Thank you for the kindness and laughter. 🫶🏾💫”
Apart from his Friends cast members, other former costars and fans of Perry have paid tribute to the late actor.
Salma Hayek
Perry's Fools Rush In costar Salma Hayek also shared a loving tribute to him.
“There is a special bond that happens when you share dreams with someone, and together you work towards them. I was very moved last year when Matthew shared on his Instagram stories how much he loved 'Fools Rush In,' and how he thought that that film we did together was probably his best movie,” she wrote on Instagram next to throwback photos of them together over the years. “Throughout the years, he and I found ourselves reminiscing about that meaningful time in our lives with a deep sense of nostalgia and gratitude. My friend, you are gone much too soon, but I will continue to cherish your silliness, your perseverance, and your lovely heart. Farewell, sweet Matthew, we will never forget you.”
Gwyneth Paltrow
The Goop founder and actor shared an Instagram post recalling a summer she had with Perry. “I met Matthew Perry in 1993 at the Williamstown Theater Festival in Massachusetts. We were both there for most of the summer doing plays. He was so funny and so sweet and so much fun to be with. We drove out to swim in creeks, had beers in the local college bar, kissed in a field of long grass. It was a magical summer,” she wrote. “He had shot the pilot of Friends but it had not aired yet. He was nervous, hoping his big break was just around the corner. It was. We stayed friends for a while until we drifted apart, but I was always happy to see him when I did. I am super sad today, as so many of us are. I hope Matthew is at peace at long last. I really do.”
Ione Skye
Say Anything costar Ione Skye shared a throwback photo of herself with Perry, as well as a screenshot of their last text conversation.
Charlie Puth
The singer, a longtime Friends fan, honored the actor by singing the Friends theme song at one of his concerts.
This piece originally appeared in Harper's Bazaar USA
