Jennifer Aniston makes an emotional plea for fans to honour Matthew Perry's memory
"He would have been grateful for the love."
The news of Matthew Perry's death shocked the world, and tributes to the actor poured in online from millions of his fans across the globe. Many celebrities and public figures also shared their condolences, and his former cast mates - Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and Courteney Cox - released a shared statement before individually posting their own tributes to their late friend.
In the wake of Matthew Perry's passing, a number of old interviews resurfaced where he spoke about his co-stars, and in one conversation with Dianne Sawyer in 2022 he explained that Jennifer Aniston was the Friends star who 'reached out the most' during his struggles with addiction, saying: "You know, I’m really grateful to her for that."
A clip of Jen An discussing her fear of losing Matthew in 2004 also resurfaced, a period we now know to have been an incredibly difficult time for him, as detailed in his autobiography Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing. In the video, Jen tells Sawyer that she wished he knew that 'he's alright', tearing up as she explained: "He’s struggled. We didn’t know, we weren’t equipped to deal with it. Nobody had ever dealt with that, and at the idea of even losing him... he’s having a road, but he’s all right."
Now, The Morning Show star is urging fans to support the Matthew Perry Foundation, an organisation set up to help those suffering from addiction to 'honour his legacy and be guided by his own words and experiences and driven by his passion for making a difference in as many lives as possible'.
She shared their Instagram post which included a photo of the actor alongside the quote: "Addiction is far too powerful for anyone to defeat alone. But together, one day at a time, we can beat it down."
Alongside it, she wrote: "Please join me and Matty’s family in supporting his foundation – which is working to help those suffering with addiction. He would have been grateful for the love."
To find out more about the Matthew Perry foundation, visit matthewperryfoundation.org/.
