Friends star Jennifer Aniston has spoken about the passing of co-star Matthew Perry, stating she was mourning “for a long time” before his death. The two had starred on Friends from 1994 to 2004. Perry was only 54 years old when he passed away in 2023 from “acute effects of ketamine” after battling a decades-long drug addiction that began while he filmed Friends. “We did everything we could when we could,” said Aniston who told Vanity Fair, recalling the efforts to help Perry through his addiction, which the deceased star chronicled in his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, a year before his death. “But it almost felt like we’d been mourning Matthew for a long time because his battle with that disease was a really hard one for him to fight,” said Aniston, now 56. “As hard as it was for all of us and for the fans, there’s a part of me that thinks this is better. I’m glad he’s out of that pain.” Aniston reflected fondly on her Friends tenure, saying “What helped raise me is something I got to put into the world and help other people. If [Friends] was the only thing on my résumé, I would be very happy and blessed.”
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