The stars of “Friends” have been sharing personal tributes for their co-star and real-life friend Matthew Perry following his death last month at the age of 54.
Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer and Lisa Kudrow are the latest castmates to post messages about Perry on Instagram on Wednesday, sharing iconic moments they had with his character, Chandler Bing, on the beloved series.
Aniston, who played Rachel Green on the hit show, posted a photo carousel on Instagram including a clip showing a heartfelt moment between the two characters in the show when she told Perry she was leaving for Paris.
What started as a sad good-bye ended in laughter between the two castmates after Perry made her erupt in laughter — a trait that carried over into their real lives, said Aniston.
She said Perry loved to make people laugh and his “life literally depended” on hearing people laugh at his jokes.
“And boy did he succeed in doing just that. He made all of us laugh. And laugh hard,” Aniston wrote in the caption. “In the last couple of 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.”
In her carousel of photos, Aniston included a screenshot of that text from Perry. “Making you laugh just made my day,” Perry texted her. “It made my day.”
“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,” Aniston wrote in the caption.
Aniston ended her post with a well-known Chandler bit from “Friends”: “I talk to you every day… sometimes I can almost hear you saying ‘could you BE any crazier?'”
Schwimmer, who played Ross Geller — Chandler Bing’s high school friend turned brother-in-law — also shared an Instagram post about Perry on Wednesday.
“Thank you for ten incredible years of laughter and creativity,” Schwimmer wrote. He said he would never forget Perry’s “impeccable comic timing and delivery.” Perry’s character was the sarcastic one on the hit sitcom.
“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 continued. “And you had heart.”
Schwimmer shared a still from the show showing himself and Perry dressed as the 1980s versions of their characters. Several flashback episodes chronicled their time in high school and college including Ross’ sister Monica, played by Courteney Cox, and her friend, Aniston’s Rachel.
“This photo is from one of my favorite moments with you. Now it makes me smile and grieve at the same time,” Schwimmer wrote.
“I imagine you up there, somewhere, in the same white suit, hands in your pockets, looking around— ‘Could there BE any more clouds?'” he wrote, referencing Bing’s infamous bit, just like Aniston did.
Kudrow, who played the lovable oddball Phoebe Buffay, was the last main castmate to post an individual tribute to Perry.
“Shot the pilot, Friends Like Us,” Kudrow wrote, referring to the show’s original title. “Got picked up then immediately, we were at the NBC Upfronts. Then…”
“You suggested we play poker AND made it so much fun while we initially bonded. Thank you for that,” Kudrow wrote alongside an old photo of her with Perry. “Thank you for making me laugh so hard at something you said, that my muscles ached, and tears poured down my face EVERY DAY.”
Like Aniston and Schwimmer, Kudrow thanked Perry for his years of real-life friendship.
“Thank you for your open heart in a six way relationship that required compromise. And a lot of ‘talking.’ Thank you for showing up at work when you weren’t well and then, being completely brilliant. Thank you for the best 10 years a person gets to have,” she wrote, ending the tribute with, “Thank you for the time I got to have with you, Matthew.”
Perry’s co-stars released a joint statement two days after he was found unresponsive in his hot tub at his Los Angeles area home. The group said they were “so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew.”
“We were more than just cast mates. We are a family,” the statement said. “There is so much to say, but right now we’re going to take a moment to grieve and process this unfathomable loss.”
On Tuesday, Matt LeBlanc and Courteney Cox posted statements about Perry on Instagram. “I am so grateful for every moment I had with you Matty and I miss you every day. 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,” wrote Cox, whose character married Perry in the show.
She shared a video of a scene from Season 4 in which Monica and Chandler wake up in bed together while in a London hotel, shocking fans. From that moment, a romance budded between their characters until the series finale, when they are a married couple having twins together via surrogate.
But that wasn’t always the plan for the characters, Cox explained in her post. She said Chandler and Monica were supposed to have
“a one night fling in London,” but the audience’s reaction led writers to turn it into the beginning of their love story.”
LeBlanc, who played Joey Tribbiani on the show, shared several photos of himself and Perry, writing; “It is with a heavy heart I say goodbye.”
“The times we had together are honestly among the favorite times of my life,” he writes in the caption. “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,” he wrote. “And I guess you’re keeping the 20 bucks you owe me.”
