Jennifer Aniston paid emotional tribute to her late “Friends” co-star Matthew Perry after his unexpected death.
“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,” the “Morning Show” star began her lengthy Instagram caption on Wednesday.
“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.”
Aniston, 54, called Perry and their “Friends” castmates her “chosen family” who “forever changed the course” of her life.
“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,” she shared.
“His life literally depended on it. And boy did he succeed in doing just that. He made all of us laugh. And laugh hard.”
The “Cake” star ended her post by opening up about revisiting text messages she and the “Fools Rush In” star sent each other, telling her followers that she’s been “laughing and crying and then laughing again.”
“Matty, I love you so much and I know you are now completely at peace and out of any pain,” she concluded.
“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…”
Perry died on Oct. 28 in an apparent drowning. He was 54.
An assistant found the troubled actor unresponsive in a jacuzzi at his Los Angeles home and called 911. He had played pickleball for two hours earlier in the day.
Foul play was not suspected, and no drugs were found at the scene.
Aniston and Perry starred together on “Friends” from 1994 to 2004 alongside Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer.
The cast attended his funeral on Nov. 3, and a source subsequently told Pvnew exclusively that Aniston was “struggling” with the sudden loss, which came ahead of the one-year anniversary of her father’s death.
“Friends” made Perry a household name thanks to his role as the ever-sarcastic Chandler Bing.
However, the Emmy nominee admitted last year that he never watched the beloved NBC sitcom as it reminded him of his decades-long battle with addiction and alcoholism. (He became sober in 2021.)
Read more about Matthew Perry’s life and struggles:
- 55 Vicodin & a quart of vodka: The most shocking tales from Matthew Perry’s tell-all memoir
- Matthew Perry: How to tell which drugs I used during ‘Friends’
- Matthew Perry reveals why he broke up with Julia Roberts in the ’90s
- Matthew Perry claims Cameron Diaz once punched him in the face on secret date
- Matthew Perry, Valerie Bertinelli made out while Eddie Van Halen was passed out
“I could tell season by season [which drugs I was on] by how I looked, and I don’t think anybody else can, but I certainly could,” he told the CBC. “That’s why I don’t want to watch it because that’s what I see — that’s what I notice when I watch it.”
And yet, Perry remembered the show as an “incredible ride” that touched “the hearts of different generations.”
The cast last appeared together on screen in 2021 in HBO Max’s “Friends: The Reunion.”
Perry later revealed that he had undergone emergency dental surgery just days before filming the special, which caused him to slur his speech.
“What I chose to do was just go and do the best that I could,” he told Diane Sawyer.
The “Odd Couple” star reflected on the highs and lows of his life and career in his 2022 memoir, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.”
In the book, Perry revealed that he had a crush on Aniston throughout their show’s 10-season run, but she showed a “deafening lack of interest.”
The actress, who played Rachel Green, did not publicly respond to the confession, though Perry said on “Good Morning America” at the time that he had “gotten some really nice texts” from his former co-stars.
