'Friends' stars share heartfelt Instagram tributes weeks after Matthew Perry's death
Four of the five "Friends" stars who shared the set with late actor Matthew Perry shared heartfelt Instagram posts about their friend and coworker two weeks after his death.
Perry, who played Chandler Bing on NBC’s "Friends" for 10 seasons, was found dead at his Los Angeles home on Oct. 28. He was 54. His five "Friends" costars – Matt LeBlanc, Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow and David Schwimmer – were all in attendance at Perry’s funeral on Nov. 3.
"It is with a heavy heart I say goodbye," LeBlanc said on Instagram Sunday. "The times we had together are honestly among the favorite times of my life. 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," LeBlanc continued. "Much love. And I guess you’re keeping the 20 bucks you owe me."
A few hours later, Cox, who played Monica Geller and Chandler’s wife later in the show, shared her own emotional tribute.
"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."
Actors clockwise from bottom left, Courteney Cox as 'Monica Geller', Matt LeBlanc as 'Joey Tribbiani', Lisa Kudrow as 'Phoebe Buffay', David Schwimmer as 'Ross Geller', Matthew Perry as 'Chandler Bing', Jennifer Aniston as 'Rachel Green' in a 'Friend
Cox shared video of a "Friends" scene in which Ross (played by David Schwimmer) storms into a hotel room to tell Chandler he’s getting married. What Ross didn’t know was that Monica was hiding in the same bed as Chandler – the two characters dated secretly for a while before letting their "friends" in on the relationship and eventual marriage.
"To give a little backstory, 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," Cox said on Instagram.
Monday morning, Aniston said "having to say goodbye to our Matty has been an insane wave of emotions that I’ve never experienced before."
READ MORE: Matthew Perry’s friend Hank Azaria says co-star’s ‘sad’ funeral was full of ‘laughing and crying’
"We all experience loss at some point in our lives. Loss of life or loss of love," Aniston said. "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.
"For Matty, he KNEW he loved to make people laugh," she continued. "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 … Matty, I love you so much and I know you are now completely at peace and out of any pain."
Schwimmer also posted about Perry Monday morning, thanking him "for ten incredible years of laughter and creativity."
"I will never forget your impeccable comic timing and delivery," Schwimmer said. "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. And you had heart. Which you were generous with, and shared with us, so we could create a family out of six strangers.
"I imagine you up there, somewhere … hands in your pockets, looking around – ‘Could there BE any more clouds?’" Schwimmer joked.
Perry, who openly battled drug and alcohol addiction for decades, died after apparently drowning in his hot tub at his home in Pacific Palisades, California. He had been sober for 18 months. His cause of death has not been released.
Actor Matthew Perry arrives at the 9th Annual Dinner Benefiting the Lili Claire Foundation at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on October 14, 2006 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Michael Buckner/Getty Images)
"The best thing about me, bar none, is that if somebody comes to me and says, 'I can't stop drinking, can you help me?' I can say 'yes' and follow up and do it," Perry said in an interview on the "Q With Tom Power" podcast in 2022.
READ MORE: Matthew Perry repeatedly said helping people with sobriety mattered more to him than 'Friends'
"When I die, I don't want 'Friends' to be the first thing that's mentioned," he continued. "I want [helping people] to be the first thing that's mentioned, and I'm gonna live the rest of my life proving that."
Less than a week after his death, a foundation was established in Perry’s name to help people dealing with addiction.