Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, and the rest of the crew have been releasing their personal statements this week.
Members of the Friends cast are continuing to say goodbye to their co-star Matthew Perry after the actor died suddenly on Oct. 28 at his Los Angeles home.
The five surviving stars first spoke out as a unit in an exclusive statement to PEOPLE on Oct. 31, and now, a few weeks after Perry was tragically found dead in his hot tub, his former colleagues are speaking out at greater length about their grief. Here’s more on the moving tributes.
Jennifer Aniston says goodbye to Matthew Perry
On Wednesday morning, Jennifer Aniston shared an emotional message on her Instagram. “Having to say goodbye to our Matty has been an insane wave of emotions that I’ve never experienced before,” she wrote. She acknowledged that everyone experiences grief or loss at some point, and, “being able to really SIT in this grief allows you to feel the moments of joy and gratitude for having loved someone that deep.”
She continued: “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.”
Aniston praised Perry’s unique sense of humor: “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.” She then directs people to swipe to the next slide, where she shares a text exchange between herself and Perry.
She closed out her tribute with an emotional message: “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…”
Lisa Kudrow remembers Matthew Perry
Kudrow was the final Friends star to post her statement about Perry’s death. In the afternoon of Nov. 15, she uploaded what appears to be a picture of a Polaroid of herself and Perry. In the caption, she recounts how the two attended NBC’s Upfronts after Friends (which was initially called Friends Like Us) got picked up and Perry suggested they play poker. “[You] made it so much fun while we initially bonded. Thank you for that,” she wrote.
Kudrow continued to thank Perry for the positive memories they shared: “Thank you for making me laugh so hard at something you said, that my muscles ached, and tears poured down my face EVERY DAY. Thank you for your open heart in a six way relationship that required compromise.”
She also referenced his struggles with addiction, writing, “Thank you for showing up at work when you weren’t well and then, being completely brilliant.” (Perry previously opened up about battling addiction at the height of his fame and being hungover on the set of Friends.)
She closed out by thanking Perry “for the best 10 years a person gets to have. Thank you for trusting me. Thank you for all I learned about GRACE and LOVE through knowing you. Thank you for the time I got to have with you, Matthew.”
David Schwimmer’s touching message for Matthew Perry
As Perry’s on-screen old friend, Schwimmer brought his own sense of humor to Friends — so it’s no surprise that his remembrance touched on his friend’s comedy. “Matty, Thank you for ten incredible years of laughter and creativity,” it began. He praised his late friend’s wit, writing, “I will never forget your impeccable comic timing and delivery. You could take a straight line of dialogue and bend it to your will, resulting in something so entirely original and unexpectedly funny it still astonishes.”
He also highlighted Perry’s kind spirit: “And you had heart. Which you were generous with, and shared with us, so we could create a family out of six strangers.” He continued that the photo he shared was one of his favorites of them together, and reflecting back after Perry’s death, he says, “Now it makes me smile and grieve at the same time.”
Schwimmer wrapped up his heartfelt post with a nod to Chandler Bing and Perry’s personality: “I imagine you up there, somewhere, in the same white suit, hands in your pockets, looking around — ‘Could there BE any more clouds?'”
Matt LeBlanc pays tribute to Matthew Perry
As the Joey Tribbiani to Perry’s Chandler Bing, these actors became an iconic duo during Friends’ 10 seasons, and they were roommates on the show for a number of years. Their on-screen friendship translated to real life, too: In 2015, LeBlanc called Perry his “little brother” in an interview with PEOPLE, and the following year he went to London to support the West End debut of Perry’s play, The End of Longing.
On Nov. 14, Matt LeBlanc honored his late friend on Instagram, posting a carousel of stills from the set of Friends. “Matthew,” he wrote, “It is with a heavy heart I say goodbye. The times we had together are honestly among the favorite times of my life.”
LeBlanc continued, “It was an honor 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.”
In classic Joey Tribbiani fashion — and a move Perry probably would’ve appreciated, given his wit — LeBlanc wrapped up his post with a joke: “And I guess you’re keeping the 20 bucks you owe me.”
Courteney Cox shares one of her favorite moments with Matthew Perry
Shortly after Matt LeBlanc’s emotional post, Courteney Cox — who played Chandler’s eventual wife, Monica — shared a memorial of her own. She posted a video of the iconic scene from Friends on the morning of Ross’s wedding, where Ross barges into Chandler’s room — and after he leaves, Monica pops out from under the covers. The video depicts the scene fans know and love, and some behind-the-scenes footage where Cox made a cheeky ad-lib, which she insisted was at Perry’s behest.
Cox explains in the caption her reasoning for posting the clip: “When you work with someone as closely as I did with Matthew, there are thousands of moments I wish I could share. For now here’s one of my favorites.” She goes on, “In this scene, before we started rolling, he whispered a funny line for me to say.” She added that Perry “often did things like that. He was funny and he was kind.”
She gives some backstory to the moment, writing, “Chandler and Monica were supposed to have a one night fling in London. But because of the audience’s reaction, it became the beginning of their love story.” The enthusiastic reaction to Chandler and Monica’s supposed fling, which you can hear in the video, may have altered the course of the show.
Cox also expressed her fondness for Perry, writing in the caption, “I am so grateful for every moment I had with you Matty and I miss you every day.”
Friends cast and creators react to Matthew Perry’s death
Two days after Perry’s death, his Friends co-stars — Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer — released a joint statement to PEOPLE.
“We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew. We were more than just cast mates. We are a family,” they said in the statement. “There is so much to say, but right now we’re going to take a moment to grieve and process this unfathomable loss.”
They continued, “Our thoughts and our love are with Matty’s family, his friends, and everyone who loved him around the world.”
The show’s creators also mourned Perry’s loss. Co-creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman and executive producer Kevin Bright told PEOPLE after Perry’s death, “All we can say is that we feel blessed to have had him as part of our lives. He was a brilliant talent. It’s a cliche to say that an actor makes a role their own, but in Matthew’s case, there are no truer words. From the day we first heard him embody the role of Chandler Bing, there was no one else for us.”
Their statement continued: “We will always cherish the joy, the light, the blinding intelligence he brought to every moment — not just to his work, but in life as well. He was always the funniest person in the room. More than that, he was the sweetest, with a giving and selfless heart. We send all of our love to his family and friends.”
