Lauren Graham Remembers Late Friend Matthew Perry, Reveals His Final Birthday Gift to Her

The 'Gilmore Girls' alum called the late 'Friends' actor "a constant" in her life

Lauren Graham will always carry Matthew Perry in her heart.

On Friday, April 5, the Gilmore Girls alum, 57, hosted a Q&A during her Have I Told You This Already? book tour. Speaking to an audience at the Lincoln Theater during her stop in Washington, D.C., she reflected on her friendship with the late actor.

“It’s still really hard to believe,” Graham said of Perry’s death.

The Friends actor died in his Los Angeles-area home on Oct. 28, 2003, due to acute effects of ketamine, according to an autopsy report obtained by PEOPLE. He was 54.

“While he was not technically ever a boyfriend, he was an almost in my life,” Graham said, adding that Perry was also “a friend and a constant.”

“We would stretch for a year, then he would come back in my life, and he had just come back in my life last year,” she explained before sharing what Perry bought her for her birthday that March.

According to Graham, the actor had sent her “a pickleball set” for her special day. As audience members laughed, she smiled while sharing her fond memories.

Related: Matthew Perry Dead: Read the Friends Star's 2022 PEOPLE Cover Interview About His Addiction and Memoir

“He’s like really into tennis and pickleball, with a card that said, ‘Be older,’ ” she said, calling his death “a terrible loss.”

Perry had once referred to Graham as “one of my favorite people” during a Q&A of his own for his show The Odd Couple.

“We have great chemistry when working together and it’s fun to work with a close friend,” he said.

A photo of him and Graham appeared in his 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing. “Me and the beautiful Lauren Graham,” the caption read.

One month after his death, the Evan Almighty actress appeared on CBS Mornings and said of Perry: “No one made me laugh as hard. Just tears, streaming. There was just such joy in being around him and being his friend.”

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For Friday’s event, Graham shared a silver lining, noting that Perry was proud of how his book was received.

Related: Matthew Perry's Lasting Legacy: How He Won Our Hearts and Found a Mission Helping Others with Addiction

“The solace I take from having seen him at the time I saw him was he was so thrilled with how his book was received — and not just because it was a huge success, but because his life’s work kind of became, ‘How can I give back? How can I talk about the struggles I had and hopefully help someone else?'” she said.

Graham added that Perry “was so pleased” that he had been contributing in that way, which made him “really happy.”

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