Matthew Perry praised Jennifer Aniston for continuing to check on him after Friends wrapped: ‘She was the one that reached out the most’

Matthew Perry will forever be associated with his role as Chandler Bing on the iconic sitcom Friends, along with his five co-stars: Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer.

And even though their ten-season show ended in May 2004, Perry knew he had a lifelong friend he could count on in Aniston, despite his well-documented struggles with alcohol and drugs.

Last year the actor, who was found dead in his home jacuzzi on Saturday at the age of 54, revealed that they remained in each other’s lives and kept in close contact.

“She was the one who reached out the most,” the Williamstown, Massachusetts, resident said ABC’s Diane Sawyer from the actress who played Rachel Green during an interview in October 2022. “You know, I’m very grateful to her for that.”

Perry would go on to reveal that it was Aniston who first confronted him about his addictions during the filming of their hit sitcom, when the symptoms were just too obvious to ignore, if you’re a true friend.

Loving hand: ‘She was the one who reached out the most. You know, I’m very grateful to her for that,” Perry said of Aniston; they can be seen in 1995

“We know you drink,” Aniston, now 54, told Perry at the time, during a break during the filming of Friends, when it was hugely popular with fans.

“Yeah, imagine how scary that was,” the actor said of his co-star during the conversation with Sawyer.

“I should have been the toast of the town, but I was in a dark room with nothing but drug dealers and I was all alone,” he would add, referring to his addiction.

When opening up about his substance abuse and the toll it began to take on his body, The Whole Nine Yards star confessed that he was taking as many as 55 Vicodin pills a day, which helped drop his weight to just 128 pounds.

“I didn’t know how to quit,” Perry admitted in an interview with People last year, before sharing an analogy that explains the power drugs and alcohol had over him at the height of his TV career.

“If the police came to my house and said, ‘If you drink tonight, we’ll take you to jail,’ I’d start packing. I couldn’t stop because the disease and addiction are progressive. So it gets worse as you get older,” he explained.

In his own mind, Perry thought he was doing a great job hiding his drug and alcohol use from his co-stars, but at some point they all knew he was in trouble and did their best to support him.

“(They) were understanding and they were patient,” he recalled of the Friends cast. ‘It looks like penguins. When penguins in nature are sick or seriously injured, the other penguins surround him and support him. They walk around it until the penguin can walk on its own. That’s pretty much what the cast did for me.”

Friends for life: Perry would share his gratitude for all the efforts of his Friends castmates to support him as he struggled with drugs and alcohol: All six Friends stars will appear on the reunion show in May 2021

Lifeline: The actor revealed that part of his inspiration for writing his 2022 memoir – Friends, Lovers, And The Big Terrible Thing – was the hope that his stories could serve as a kind of lifeline for others, as Aniston did for was him.

Iconic: He rose to fame for his role as ‘Chandler Bing’ on the hit ’90s sitcom, which ran for ten seasons

For a while, Perry thought he could hide behind his infectious humor and continue his life on the wings of Friends’ success.

“I thought if I was funny all the time I could get through it,” he said. “I thought (Friends) would solve everything. That didn’t happen.’

Perry would eventually get clean and sober in 2001, but according to his 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers, And The Big Terrible Thing, he estimated he relapsed “60 or 70 times” over the years.

Along the way, he spent a lot of time in rehabilitation centers and battled a number of serious health issues, including a five-month hospital stay in 2018 after his colon ruptured due to opioid overuse.

He was given only a two percent chance of living at one point in the hospital, Perry admitted in the memoir, but he would ultimately survive.

‘I am a very grateful man. I’m grateful to be alive, that’s for sure. And that gives me the opportunity to do anything,” he said with clear emotion during the 2022 People interview.

Perry went on to reveal that part of his inspiration for writing an open and honest memoir, with all the ups and downs, was the hope that his stories could serve as a kind of lifeline for others, like Aniston was for him.

Perry died “after drowning in his jacuzzi at home,” sources told DailyMail.com.

Perry died at age 54 “after drowning in his jacuzzi at home,” sources told DailyMail.com; seen in 2022

In his latest Instagram post, posted earlier this week, the star shared images of him in his pool

Law enforcement sources said the actor was found Saturday in a Los Angeles home after first responders were called to the scene for cardiac arrest around 4 p.m. (PDT).

Sources said he was found in a jacuzzi at the house, but no drugs were discovered at the scene – and there was no evidence of foul play.

He reportedly played a two-hour game of Pickleball before his death, after which he sent his assistant out on an errand. When they returned, the deputy found Perry unresponsive and called 911.

A source told the newspaper there was no sign of foul play and that robbery-homicide detectives are investigating his death.