Jennifer Aniston is remembering her late Friends costar Matthew Perry "as he said he’d love to be remembered" — as somebody who lived well and helped other people.
"He was happy. He was healthy," Aniston told Reese Witherspoon for Variety's Emmys edition. "He had quit smoking. He was getting in shape. He was happy — that’s all I know. I was literally texting with him that morning, funny Matty. He was not in pain. He wasn’t struggling."
"It’s important people know that," Witherspoon noted.
"It is," Aniston replied. "I want people to know he was really healthy, and getting healthy. He was on a pursuit. He worked so hard. He really was dealt a tough one. I miss him dearly. We all do. Boy, he made us laugh really hard."
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Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry.
RON DAVIS/GETTY
Aniston said it was "beautiful" to see the outpour of love and support for Perry following his untimely death on Oct. 28 at the age of 54, from an apparent drowning at his home in Los Angeles. "I hope he can know that he was loved in a way he never thought he was," Aniston said.
Witherspoon, who guest starred on Friends as Aniston's younger sister, Jill Green, added that she felt "lucky" to witness the bond Perry had with his costars, including Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, and Matt LeBlanc.
"You all were so close," Witherspoon said. "I feel lucky that I got to be on that show and I walked in like Alice in Wonderland, watching the most popular cast do this whole thing. I remember going home and going, oh, they’re in another league. They’re on another planet on comedy levels that I’ve never seen my entire life, pivoting on a dime and working on each other’s energy and it was extraordinary."
Aniston said Perry "created a whole different world," adding, "We went with his lead, in a way. It just added something to our joy."
Perry, beloved for his role as Chandler Bing on the hit NBC sitcom, previously said he wanted to be remembered "as somebody who lived well, loved well," and helped people while promoting his memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, last year. "That’s what I want," Perry said during an appearance on the Q with Tom Power podcast.
The actor shares intimate details about his past alcohol and drug addiction struggles in the memoir. which topped Amazon's best-sellers list days after his passing.
“The best thing about me, bar none, is that if somebody comes to me and says, ‘I can’t stop drinking, can you help me?’ I can say ‘yes’ and follow up and do it,” Perry told Power. “When I die, I don’t want Friends to be the first thing that’s mentioned. I want that to be the first thing that’s mentioned. And I’m gonna live the rest of my life proving that.”
