Celebrity
Friends Creators Recall Final Conversation With Matthew Perry
The late actor was “in a good place.”
In the wake of Matthew Perry’s death on Oct. 28, the late actor’s fans, family, and former co-stars have been paying tribute to the Friends star.
In a joint statement, the Friends creators and executive producers Marta Kauffman, David Crane, and Kevin Bright told PEOPLE that they were “shocked and deeply, deeply saddened” by Perry’s passing at the age of 54.
“All we can say is that we feel blessed to have had him as part of our lives,” they 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.”
During a Nov. 1 appearance on Today, the trio also disclosed the final conversations they had with Perry two weeks before his death.
Perry Was In A “Good Place”
Recalling their final exchange, Kauffman shared: “It was great. He was happy and chipper. He didn’t seem weighed down by anything. He was in a really good place, which is why this seems so unfair.”
Kauffman added that she was “just in utter shock” upon learning of Perry’s death. “My first impulse was to text him, honestly. And then deep sadness. It’s hard to grasp. You know, one minute he’s here and happy, and then poof. And doing good in the world. Really doing good in the world.”
“It Is Still Hard To Believe”
Crane also recalled Perry’s previous claim that when he did eventually die, people would be shocked, but not surprised, given his past addiction struggles that he candidly shared in the 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.
“I would say that’s probably true,” Crane said on Today. “Given the journey he’d been on, and we were all aware of it, there was always a part that was kind of bracing for something like this. But it is still hard to believe because he was such a sort of alive person that it’s hard to believe he’s not here.”
Perry, best known for his portrayal of Chandler Bing on Friends, died at his Los Angeles home on Saturday, Oct. 28 aged 54.
Perry’s former Friends co-stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer later shared a joint statement remembering the actor.
“We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew. We were more than just cast mates. We are a family,” they wrote in a statement to PEOPLE. “There is so much to say, but right now we’re going to take a moment to grieve and process this unfathomable loss.”
