Courteney Cox Shared 1 Favorite Of ‘Thousands Of Moments’ With Matthew Perry
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
They starred in Friends as *the* TV couple of the 90s, so the way Courteney Cox reacted to Matthew Perry’s death is hardly surprising, considering they worked together for 10 seasons in as many years. Cox and Perry played Monica and Chandler, respectively, starting as close buddies and forming a romantic relationship at the finale of season four.
Premiering on NBC in 1994, the show about six single New Yorkers navigating the complexities of adulthood quickly became a cultural phenomenon. Perry, who was only 25 years old when the series began, became a household name overnight alongside his fellow cast members Jennifer Aniston, Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer.
More from StyleCaster
How Did Matthew Perry Die? What Investigators Have Discovered In His Toxicology Report
Matthew Perry's Funeral Took Place Minutes Away From Where Friends Was Filmed
How The Friends Cast Reacted When They Found Out About Matthew Perry's Death
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing
‘Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing’ by Matthew Perry
In an interview With People in 2022, Perry credited the series and its cast for the positive impact it had on his life. “It changed my life in every way. I got the show when I was a 24-year-old man; the show ended when I was 34. It formed my life. And it was the time of my life,” Perry said.
Perry also described what it was like for Friends to end during the series’ reunion for Max in 2021. “The best way that I can describe it is after the show was over, at a party or any kind of social gathering, if one of us bumped into each other, that was it,” he said. “That was the end of the night. You just sat with the person all night long and that was it.” Mates on and off the screen, here’s how Courteney Cox reacted to Matthew Perry’s death.
How did Courteney Cox react to Matthew Perry’s death?
Like we said, Courteney Cox’s reaction to Matthew Perry’s death was understandable considering how close they became thanks to their time on Friends. On November 14, 2023, she shared one of her favorite moments on Friends with her on-screen love interest. “I am so grateful for every moment I had with you Matty and I miss you every day,” she wrote in the caption. “When you work with someone as closely as I did with Matthew, there are thousands of moments I wish I could share. For now here’s one of my favorites.”
The scene was the first glimpse into Monica and Chandler’s love story as they were hiding from her brother Ross. “To give a little backstory, Chandler and Monica were supposed to have a one night fling in London. But because of the audience’s reaction, it became the beginning of their love story.
In this scene, before we started rolling, he whispered a funny line for me to say.
He often did things like that. He was funny and he was kind. 🤍🕊️”
James Burrows, who directed 15 episodes of the show over the years, messaged Cox, Kudrow and Aniston on the day news of Perry’s death broke. “They were destroyed. It’s a brother dying,” he told Today on November 2, 2023.
Perry’s death was first reported by TMZ, which stated that he was found unresponsive in a hot tub on October 28, 2023. “I had to have a couple of days to just let it soak in,” the director continued. “He was part of a family, and he was the first one to not be part of that family anymore.”
Aniston, Kudrow and Cox along with Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer shared a joint tribute in the days after Perry’s death. “We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew. We were more than just cast mates. We are a family,” the cast shared in a statement to Us Weekly. “There is so much to say, but right now we’re going to take a moment to grieve and process this unfathomable loss.”
How did Matthew Perry Die?
Initial reports into how Matthew Perry died claimed that there were no drugs found at the scene and no foul play was involved, however, an investigation into his cause of death is ongoing. After Perry’s death first made headlines, more information continued to emerge about his passing, with TMZ following up their story with details about the actor’s final hours.
The outlet reported that Perry spent his morning playing pickleball and arrived home after a two-hour session on the court. When he got home, he reportedly sent his assistant out on an errand. When his assistant returned about two hours later, he found Perry unresponsive and called 911. A rep for the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed the call without identifying Perry, telling Entertainment Tonight, “West L.A. officers responded to [a residence] at 4:10 p.m. for a Death Investigation of a male in his 50s.”
While Perry’s cause of death remains unconfirmed, many fans of the Friends star can’t help but wonder if his sudden passing had anything to do with his past health struggles—including his battles with addiction to alcohol and Vicodin.
Perry’s battle with drug addiction started after he had a skiing accident on the set of the film When Fools Rush In in 1997. The doctor prescribed Vicodin for his pain, but as a highly addictive substance, Perry’s use escalated to taking up to 55 pills a day. Along with his opioid addiction, he suffered from alcoholism. In his 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, he explained how to tell which substance he was using based on his appearance on Friends: “When I’m carrying weight, it’s alcohol; when I’m skinny, it’s pills. When I have a goatee, it’s lots of pills.”
Five years before his passing, Perry was also open about the fact that he already had his fair share of brushes with death. He revealed in his memoir that he almost died after suffering a gastrointestinal perforation when his colon burst from opioid overuse. “The doctors told my family that I had a two percent chance to live,” he told People in 2022. “I was put on a thing called an ECMO machine, which does all the breathing for your heart and your lungs. And that’s called a Hail Mary. No one survives that.”
“There were five people put on an ECMO machine that night and the other four died and I survived,” he added. “So the big question is why? Why was I the one? There has to be some kind of reason.”
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, Perry had another near-death experience while staying at a rehab center in Switzerland when he had to get surgery. During his procedure, he was given a shot of propofol. After 11 hours, he woke up in a different hospital and was told that the propofol had stopped his heart for five minutes. The long CPR process broke eight of his ribs.
While Perry often didn’t disclose how long he stayed sober, the actor was always open about his relapses. He had been to rehab 15 times, attended 6,000 AA meetings, been in detox 65 times, and spent between $7 to $9 million trying to get sober.
“It’s important, but if you lose your sobriety, it doesn’t mean you lose all that time and education,” he said. “Your sober date changes, but that’s all that changes. You know everything you knew before, as long as you were able to fight your way back without dying, you learn a lot.”
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing
‘Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing’ by Matthew Perry
For more about Matthew Perry, read his memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing. The New York Times bestseller takes readers through Perry’s life and career, from his childhood dreams of becoming an actor to how he was cast in Friends to his struggle with addiction and his stints in rehab. “Hi, my name is Matthew, although you may know me by another name. My friends call me Matty. And I should be dead,” Perry writes in the book. Told in his own words for the first time ever, the memoir is an “unflinchingly honest, moving, and uproariously funny” account of Perry’s trials and triumphs. Described as an “unforgettable memoir that is both intimate and eye-opening,” Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing is a must-read for Friends fans.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, help is available. Call the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) for free, confidential support.
Our mission at STYLECASTER is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think you’ll love as much as we do. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission from the sale.
Best of StyleCaster
