In an interview with Variety, Jennifer Aniston said Matthew Perry was "happy and healthy." at the time of his death
Matthew Perry and Jennifer Aniston
Actor Jennifer Aniston says she texted her "Friends" co-star Matthew Perry on the morning of his death, and he was "not struggling" with addiction at the time.
Perry died at the age of 54 on October 28 at his Pacific Palisades home here. The actor, who had detailed his life-long struggle with alcohol and drug addiction in his 2022 memoir, was found unresponsive in his hot tub and was believed to have drowned.
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In an interview with Variety, Aniston said Perry was "happy and healthy." "He had quit smoking. He was getting in shape. I was literally texting with him that morning, funny Matty. He was not in pain. He wasn't struggling. He was happy... "I want people to know he was really healthy and getting healthy. He was on a quest. He worked so hard. He really was dealt a tough one. I miss him dearly. We all do. Boy, he made us laugh really hard," the "Morning Show" star said.
Perry played the socially awkward and lovable Chandler Bing, who used sarcasm to get by in life, alongside Courteney Cox (Monica Geller), Aniston (Rachel Green), Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe Buffay), Matt LeBlanc (Joey Tribbiani), and David Schwimmer (Ross Geller) on "Friends." Aniston, 54, said Perry's way of speaking created a whole different world on the popular sitcom, which aired on NBC from 1994 to 2004. "We went with his lead, in a way. It just added something to our joy," she added.
Last month, the five "Friends" cast members posted remembrances for the late star. Jennifer Aniston, who played Rachael Green in Friends, shared a picture with 'Chandler' along with a screenshot of one of their chats. She wrote, "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. 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…) 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…"
(With inputs from PTI)