Matthew Perry thanked Jennifer Aniston for constantly checking in on him
She was the first Friends cast member to confront him about his addiction and she was the one who was there for him the most.
Matthew Perry once revealed Jennifer Aniston was the one who checked in on him the most during his struggles with addiction.
Perry tragically passed away over the weekend at the age of just 54.
The LA Times reports he was found unresponsive in his hot tub on Saturday (October 28), with police sources saying the incident was treated as a 'water rescue'.
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An initial post mortem found the cause of his death inconclusive, pending further investigations and a toxicology report.
The Friends star has been very honest about his substance abuse over the years.
Perry explained that his alcohol and painkiller addictions were incredibly hard to shake while he was filming the legendary TV show, as well as after.
His weight fluctuated during the series and it was Aniston who was the first person on the show to confront him about his problem.
In an interview with journalist Diane Sawyer, she recalled the moment Aniston told Perry 'we know you’re drinking'.
He replied: “I should have been the toast of the town, but I was in a dark room meeting with nothing but drug dealers and completely alone."
The actor said it was a 'scary moment' but an important one because his addiction was finally out in the open.
He added in that interview that Aniston made sure keep in contact with the actor well after the show had finished.
“She was the one who reached out the most,” Perry said. “You know, I’m really grateful to her for that.”
But it wasn't just Jennifer who tried to make sure he was alright.
During the humungous 2021 reunion of the show, Matthew expressed his love for his cast mates.
“The best way that I can describe it is after the show was over, at a party or any kind of social gathering, if one of us bumped into each other, that was it," he said.
"That was the end of the night. You just sat with the person all night long and that was it.
“You apologised to the people you were with, but they had to understand you had met somebody special to you and you were going to talk to that person for the rest of the night.
"And that’s the way it worked.
“It’s certainly the way it worked with all of us. It’s just the way it is.”
In his memoir, he described Jennifer, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow as 'penguins'.
“[They] were understanding, and they were patient,” Perry said of his co-stars.
“It’s like penguins.
"Penguins, in nature, when one is sick, or when one is very injured, the other penguins surround it and prop it up.
"They walk around it until that penguin can walk on its own. That’s kind of what the cast did for me.”
Topics: Matthew Perry, Jennifer Aniston, Friends
Stewart Perrie