" He was such a part of our DNA . We were always the six of us . This was a chosen family that forever changed the trend of who we were and what our route was going to be . "
As you’re probably aware, beloved actor Matthew Perry suddenlydiedlast month at the age of 54.
Alongside starring in countless movies, Matthew was of course most beloved for starring as Chandler Bing onFriendsfor 10 seasons. His work earned him a SAG Award alongside the cast, and an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.
Shortly after news of his death broke, celebrities and fans begansharing touching tributesin honor of Matthew. A lot of people sharedtheir favorite Chandler moments, while others talked about how much they admired his advocacy for mental health and addiction recovery.
The remainingFriendscast members — Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer — alsoissued a joint statementsaying, “We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew. We were more than just cast mates. We are a family.”
Over the past few days, the coreFriendscast has begun to shareindividual tributesto Matthew on their Instagrams. First, Matt shared several photos and said it was “an honor to share the stage” with Matthew. He also joked, “And I guess you’re keeping the 20 bucks you owe me.”
Courteneypostedone of her favorite moments fromFriends, which was when Chandler and Monica wake up in bed together in London during the Season 4 finale. She even included a behind-the-scenes clip and explained how the audience’s reaction to the moment helped make Monica and Chandler a couple.
Then, DavidthankedMatty for “10 incredible years of laughter and creativity,” and added, “I imagine you up there, somewhere, in the same white suit, hands in your pockets, looking around — ‘Could there BE any more clouds?'”
And now, Jennifer has shared atouching tributeon her Instagram in honor of Matthew, and it’s incredibly sweet.
“Oh boy this one has cut deep,” Jennifer’s post began. “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, saying, “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.”
Ina 2022 interview with Diane Sawyer, Matthew talked about how Jennifer was the member of theFriendscast who consistently checked in on him following the show’s series finale in 2004. He recalled, “She was the one that reached out the most. You know, I’m really grateful to her for that.”
In his memoir,Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, released last year, Matthew also wrote about how Jennifer confronted him about his alcohol abuse, saying he was grateful to her that she did, and how he had a crush on her whenFriendsstarted. In the closing chapter of the book, he wrote a sweet thank you to Jennifer, saying, “Jenny, for letting me look at that face an extra two seconds every single day.”
In her Instagram post, Jennifer went on to say that over the last couple of weeks since Matthew’s death, she’s “been poring over [their] texts” to each other, saying she was, “Laughing and crying then laughing again.”
Then, she included a very sweet text exchange, where Matthew sent her a photo of the two of them on the set ofFriends"out of nowhere one day."
Jennifer continued, saying, “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…” her statement concluded.
You can see Jennifer’s full Instagram tribute to Matthew below:
