Jennifer Aniston has paid tribute to her late Friends co-star Matthew Perry.
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The actress, who portrayed Rachel Green in the US sitcom opposite Perry’s Chandler Bing, wrote in a lengthy note posted to Instagram today (November 15) that the loss has “cut deep” and has caused an “insane wave of emotions that I’ve never experienced before”.
Perry, 54, was found dead in his hot tub at his Los Angeles home on October 28.
According to E! News the actor’s death certificate states that his cause of death is still “deferred” following the latest reports that his initial autopsy results were inconclusive. The toxicology report has since confirmed that his death was not caused by a methamphetamine or fentanyl overdose.
Perry had longstanding substance abuse issues but it’s not yet known whether he was using at the time of his death or if another health issue was the cause or whether accidental drowning occurred.
Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry in ‘Friends’. CREDIT: David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images
In Aniston’s fresh tribute she celebrates Perry’s funny nature and notes how much the Friends cast “loved him deeply” as a “chosen family that forever changed the course of who we were and what our path was going to be”.
“Oh boy this one has cut deep…,” Aniston’s message begins.
“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.”
She continued: “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…”
Aniston’s personal tribute follows Matt LeBlanc’s one shared yesterday (November 14) in which the actor, who portrayed Joey Tribbiani – Chandler’s best friend in the series – said it was an “honour” to share the stage with him.
“Matthew. It is with a heavy heart I say goodbye,” LeBlanc wrote in the post, alongside some stills from Friends. “The times we had together are honestly among the favourite times of my life.
“It was an honour to share the stage with you and to call you my friend. I will always smile when I think of you and I’ll never forget you. Never. Spread your wings and fly brother you’re finally free. Much love. And I guess you’re keeping the 20 bucks you owe me.”
“I am so grateful for every moment I had with you Matty and I miss you every day,” Cox wrote.
“When you work with someone as closely as I did with Matthew, there are thousands of moments I wish I could share,” she said, before going on to share a clip from the sitcom that she felt was enhanced by Perry’s natural comedic charisma.
The Friends cast shared a joint tribute shortly after news of his death broke.
Revisit more tributes to the late film and TV actor here.
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