Matthew Perry Remembered By TV Parent Kathleen Turner; Max Adds Tribute To Start Of Each ‘Friends’ Season

Tributes continue to pour in for Matthew Perry. Kathleen Turner, who portrayed Helena Handbasket, the transgender parent of Perry’s Chandler Bing on Friends, is remembering the actor, saying she is “very sad for Matthew” following his sudden death Saturday.

In a statement to People, Turner said she last saw Perry at least 10 years ago at event. “I liked him,” she said in a statement to People. “He had a good sense of humor and a good heart. He liked other people, which, to me, is terribly important, especially for an actor.”

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“It’s extremely sad when you think about how young [he was] and a pity he couldn’t get more control.” Referring to the Friends cast, she adds, “I can’t imagine the pressure those guys lived under being a worldwide phenomenon. It must have been overwhelming.”

Turner first appeared on Friends in 2001 as Helena, a transgender woman, who was referred to by Chandler’s friends as his “dad”. She recalled Chandler’s wedding to Monica (Courteney Cox): “The wedding! I was married to Morgan Fairchild. There was no time for anything but shooting.”

Perry was found dead Saturday in a hot tub at his Pacific Palisades home. The Los Angeles County coroner has deferred a cause of death following an autopsy pending toxicology tests. The actor was 54.

Additionally, Max is paying tribute to Perry with a card at the beginning of each season on the streaming platform.

“In memory of Matthew Perry 1969-2023,” the card reads, which appears on screen before the Friends opening sequence. All 10 seasons of Friends are available to stream on Max.

Friends co-creators and executive producers Marta Kauffman and David Crane and executive producer Kevin Bright previously released a statement.

“We are shocked and deeply, deeply saddened by our beloved friend Matthew’s passing. It still seems impossible. All we can say is that we feel blessed to have had him as part of our lives,” they said in the joint statement. “He was a brilliant talent. It’s a cliche to say that an actor makes a role their own, but in Matthew’s case, there are no truer words. From the day we first heard him embody the role of Chandler Bing, there was no one else for us. We will always cherish the joy, the light, the blinding intelligence he brought to every moment – not just to his work, but in life as well. He was always the funniest person in the room. More than that, he was the sweetest, with a giving and selfless heart.”

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