“Friends” director James Burrows gave insight into how Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow are doing after Matthew Perry’s death.
The 82-year-old shared his first text messages with “the girls” on the “Today” show Thursday, saying he reached out when the news broke that their former co-star had drowned in his hot tub on Oct. 28.
“They were destroyed,” he said. “It’s a brother dying.”
Burrows did not address whether he has spoken to Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer, the other main cast members from the NBC sitcom, in which Perry played Chandler Bing from 1994 to 2004.
The “Cheers” co-creator, who directed 15 episodes of “Friends,” recalled how “inventive” Perry was in front of the camera.
“Matthew had a certain way of turning a line,” he said, noting that he needed “a couple of days to just let it soak in” that Perry had died at age 54.
“He was part of a family, and he was the first one to not be part of that family anymore.”
After Perry’s death made headlines last Saturday, Cox, 59, Aniston, 54, Kudrow, 60, Schwimmer, 57, and LeBlanc, 56, released a joint statement Monday.
“We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew,” they said. “We were more than just castmates. 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.”
“Friends” co-creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane recalled in a Tuesday interview with Hoda Kotb that Perry was “happy and chipper” the last time they spoke to him.
Similarly, model Athenna Crosby, who dined with Perry at the Hotel Bel-Air just one day before his death, noted his “extremely good spirits” in an Instagram upload Tuesday.
“I want to emphasize that Matthew … talked to me enthusiastically about the things he had coming up in his life,” the 25-year-old wrote. “He was so happy and vibrant.”
While Perry’s autopsy was completed — with initial tests reportedly showing the “Go On” star tested negative for fentanyl and meth — his cause of death has been “deferred” for the time being amid a pending toxicology report.
