Friends cast ‘reeling’ from death of Matthew Perry who was like a ‘brother’ to them and will release ‘joint statement’
THE cast of Friends are said to be reeling from Matthew Perry’s death and will be releasing a joint statement.
The 54-year-old beloved actor – who played Chandler Bing on the hit show – was found dead in his backyard hot tub on Saturday.
Matthew‘s former co-stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc, and Lisa Kudrow are “devastated” by his death, sources claimed.
“The cast is reeling from the loss of their brother, because that’s what Matty was — their brother,” an insider told Page Six.
“It’s just devastating.”
They are currently preparing to release a joint statement, according to the outlet.
The source said: “The entire cast are close, they will be devastated, because they were together through the best of times and worst of times.
“And when Matty was sick, they protected him, they looked him after him fiercely.”
Matthew had a particularly close relationship with Jennifer, who played Rachel Green on Friends.
After he got over his initial crush on the star, they had a close friendship and she supported him throughout his rehab stints and drug battles.
“She was the one that reached out the most,” he said to Diane Sawyer in an October 2022 interview.
“You know, I’m really grateful to her for that.”
Matthew’s Friends costar Maggie Wheeler, who played Janice Hosenstein, paid tribute to him on Instagram on Saturday.
“What a loss. The world will miss you Mathew Perry. The joy you brought to so many in your too short lifetime will live on,” she wrote.
“I feel so very blessed by every creative moment we shared.”
TRAGIC DEATH
Matthew suffered a cardiac arrest and was unresponsive when found by his assistant in his jacuzzi at 4pm on Saturday.
His staffer made a frantic 911 call and referred to a drowning in the 15-second dispatch audio clip.
A first responder was heard saying: “Agent 23. Rescue 23. EMS 9 on the radio. In response to the drowning.”
A drowning is known as Emergency Medical Situation 9.
Matthew had been candid about his struggles with drink and drugs, and health problems.
Cops confirmed the death was being investigated but no foul play is suspected.
No narcotics were discovered at the scene, but authorities found anti-depressants, anti-anxiety drugs and a drug for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
On the morning of his death, Matthew had played racquet sport pickleball with a female friend, who revealed the star had felt unwell and “fatigued” for the past week.
The actor was said to have been in good spirits as he played at the Riviera Country Club near his home in the Pacific Palisades region of Los Angeles.
He returned home and later sent his assistant on an errand, but was unresponsive when they returned two hours later.
DEVASTATED FAMILY
Investigators spent hours at the house as Matthew’s family were seen looking distraught as they arrived.
They left some hours later and the medical examiner arrived about 10.35pm. The examiner then left with the body at 1.06am yesterday.
Matthew’s dad John Bennett Perry, 82 — who had a cameo in a 1998 Friends episode — arrived at the house on Saturday evening.
He was joined by his ex, the star’s mum Suzanne Morrison, 75, and stepdad Keith Morrison, 76.
Matthew wrote in-depth about his battle with alcohol and drug addiction in his 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.
Matthew revealed he was once taking up to 55 Vicodin painkillers a day during Friends’ third season, and was abusing tranquilliser Xanax and OxyContin, also for pain relief.
Over the course of the series, the actor said his weight fluctuated “between 128lbs and 225lbs,” depending on which addiction he was fighting — drink or drugs.
He wrote: “I weighed 128lbs, I was on Friends getting watched by 30million people — and that’s why I can’t watch the show, because I was brutally thin.
“I had a rule that I would never drink or do drugs while working.
“Because I had too much respect for the five people I was working with. So I was never wasted while working.
“The thing that always makes me cry . . . is that it’s not fair. It’s not fair that I had to go through this disease while the other five didn’t.”