Friends cast did not want to reunite at the Emmys to honor Matthew Perry as his death still feels ‘very fresh for them’

The cast of Friends continues to mourn their late co-star Matthew Perry, who was found unconscious in his Los Angeles home after drowning in his pool on October 28.

Despite hopes that his castmates Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer would reunite to honor his legacy at the Emmy Awards, the show’s executive producers Jesse Collins and Jeannae Rouzan-Clay revealed that the stars were too raw with sadness to come together.

“We talked about it early on,” Collins said The Hollywood Reporter. ‘But I can imagine that they, on their part, are grieving for someone who was very close to them. I can’t speak for them, but we all have to respect that they were their own family. It was probably a little too early.’

Rouzan-Clay added that his death is “still very fresh for them.”

Perry was remembered Monday during the ceremony’s annual “In Memoriam” tribute, along with other late stars including Len Goodman, Andre Braugher, Lance Reddick, Paul Reubens, Barbara Walters, Angela Lansbury and Kirstie Alley.

When they showed Perry’s photo, pop star Charlie Puth switched from singing See You Again to the Friends theme song, I’ll Be There for You by The Rembrandts.

A night earlier, Aniston urged fans to continue “celebrating” Perry’s life and legacy at the 29th annual Critics Choice Awards.

In November, Jennifer attended the funeral of Matthew — who had struggled with alcohol and drug addiction for several years but was believed to be sober at the time of his death — along with Cox, LeBlanc, Schwimmer and Kudrow in Forest Lawn. cemetery, but is said to have ‘kept to himself’ that day.

An onlooker told DailyMail.com: ‘She was one of the first to arrive. She kept herself to herself. This is a high-profile meeting.’

The cemetery where Perry is buried is located across from Warner Bros Studios, where Friends was filmed for ten seasons.

It is also the final resting place of a galaxy of Hollywood stars, including Carrie Fisher, Bette Davis, Stan Laurel, Buster Keaton, INXS frontman Michael Hutchence and Anne Heche.

The service ended with a rendition of the Peter Gabriel song ‘Don’t Give Up’ with the lyrics: ‘There’s no fight left, it seems, I’m a man whose dreams have all been abandoned, I’ve my face changed, I’ve changed my name, but no one wants you if you lose.’

Despite hopes that his castmates Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer would reunite to honor his legacy at the Emmy Awards, the show’s executive producers Jesse Collins and Jeannae Rouzan-Clay revealed that the stars were too raw with sadness to come together

“We talked about it early on,” Collins told The Hollywood Reporter. ‘But I can imagine that they, on their part, are grieving for someone who was very close to them. I can’t speak for them, but we all have to respect that they were their own family. It was probably just a little too early.”

An onlooker told DailyMail.com: ‘There was no dry eyes there. There were many tears and laughter. Only close friends and family spoke.”

Aniston and Perry – born just six months apart – were the youngest of the six Friends and as such formed an instant camaraderie when the show was first taped in 1994.

He wrote in his 2022 memoir “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing” that they first met three years before Friends started and he tried to date her, but she turned him down.

But this early rejection didn’t stop Aniston and Perry from forming a close friendship during the ten years they spent together on the set of Friends – with Aniston supporting him in his battle against drug addiction.

“No one shed more tears for Matthew during the darkest points of his struggle with addiction than Jennifer,” a close friend of the actress told DailyMail.com.

‘At the time of the Friends reunion in 2021, there was speculation that Matthew wouldn’t be part of it because his demons had gotten the better of him. But without him, Jennifer definitely wouldn’t have done it.

‘He did his best and made a success of it, even though he seemed weak.

“But Jennifer really thought his worst days were behind him. So his death, just two years later, was a bitter blow to her.

“It doesn’t matter if he died as a result of a freak accident or if it was directly related to his drug problems, this was a day that Jennifer had been dreading for 20 years,” the friend added.

“She always wanted to help Matthew in any way she could, that was a constant for her.”

A night earlier, Aniston urged fans to continue “celebrating” Perry’s life and legacy at the 29th annual Critics Choice Awards (seen in 1995)

Perry is best known for playing Chandler Bing on the hit sitcom Friends from 1994 to 2004

Throughout his life, Perry had been open about his struggles with drugs and alcohol.

According to a TMZ report, the usual narcotics were not found in Perry’s system during initial testing. But more in-depth testing is underway and should reveal whether the beloved actor had prescription drugs in his system.

When investigators went to Perry’s home, they found no illegal drugs, but did find prescription medications that were properly labeled and kept in storage bottles.

In his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing, Perry wrote that after his colon exploded in 2018, he was prescribed opiates that he deemed insufficient to deal with his pain, prompting him to turn to street dealers to possibly supply him with fentanyl-laced OxyContin.

“The street pills cost about $75 a pill, so I gave the guy $3,000 a pop, many times a week,” he wrote.

After an initial investigation, the Los Angeles County coroner has delayed issuing a cause of death, which could take weeks to determine. Those who knew him claim Perry was clean and sober at the time of his death.