Matthew Perry’s unshakeable ‘Friends’ bond with castmates: ‘It changed my life in every way’
Perry died unexpectedly on Saturday at the age of 54.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}‘Friends’ ran for 10 years, from 1994 to 2004, changing the lives of its cast of up and comers, including Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and the late Matthew Perry.
Their time on the show also forged a lifelong bond and genuine friendship among the cast.
During the 2021 reunion on Max, Perry summarized the feeling.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"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. That was the end of the night. You just sat with the person all night long and that was it," Perry said.
Lisa Kudrow, Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc, and Matthew Perry join James Corden for a Friends Reunion Special during The Late Late Show with James Corden. (Terence Patrick/CBS via Getty Images)
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He continued, "You apologized to the people you were with, but they had to understand you had met somebody special to you and you were going to talk to that person for the rest of the night. And that’s the way it worked."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Aniston agreed and Cox teared up, as Perry added tearfully, "It’s certainly the way it worked with all of us. It’s just the way it is."
"We stay in touch, maybe not every day. WE have such a bond from having done this show and forged this very tight relationship, anytime you text or call someone, they’re gonna pick up. They’ll be there," Kudrow said in the early part of the reunion.
"It was an incredible time. Everything came together. We became best friends who, just, the chemistry, the whole thing. It was life changing, and it forever will be. Not just for us but for people who watch it, and that’s just such a great feeling to carry forever," Cox said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}During the Max reunion in 2021, Perry spoke about seeing his castmates over the years, saying "you had met somebody special to you and you were going to talk to that person for the rest of the night. And that’s the way it worked." (Reisig & Taylor/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)
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Ahead of the reunion in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Aniston reflected that the connection the cast shared was almost innate.
"All I can say is that there was something that was laid down at the very beginning that kind of went into our neural pathways that instantly, it was in our DNA that we were family, we were going to take care of each other," she told the outlet. "And it was without question. There was never competition. If there was ever a conflict, it was instantly addressed and handled. No eggshells."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The show’s incredible success also led to the friendships becoming deeper.
"We really grew close as a family and part of the reason was that initial success of the show was something that no one else could relate to or was going through except the other five actors," Schwimmer told Entertainment Tonight. "So we really got close because of that experience."
Schwimmer told Entertainment Tonight that the cast "really grew close as a family." (Photo by Warner Bros. Television)
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The reunion special was the first televised gathering of the group in years, but true to the bond they formed, the cast has shown their friendship in other ways as well.
When Aniston joined Instagram in 2019, the cast came together for her first post.
She wrote in the caption, "And now we’re Instagram FRIENDS too. HI INSTAGRAM."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}That same year, Cox shared a photo of her and Perry together, writing, "Guess who I had lunch with today....I KNOW!! Could I BE any happier?."
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LeBlanc and Perry reunited back in 2016 when he was appearing in his play "The End of Longing," in London.
Matt LeBlanc and Matthew Perry pose backstage following a performance of "The End Of Longing", Matthew Perry's playwriting debut which he stars in at The Playhouse Theatre in London in 2016. (David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Though the relationships remained tight, some of the cast wish the series and their time together could have gone on even longer.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In 2013, Perry and Kudrow appeared on CNN’s "Piers Morgan Tonight," where the late actor was wistful about wishing the show had continued.
"I find myself sort of reminiscing about how much fun the show was, and the hours that we worked. You know, you can see how much we laughed and everything," Perry said at the time.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He added, reflecting on a recent interview had had done with The Hollywood Reporter, "And I found myself saying, 'If I had a time machine, I would like to go back to 2004 and not have stopped.’"
Kudrow agreed, saying, "If it were up to us, like individually, oh, I would keep going. "There would have come a time anyway when someone would have said, 'We've had enough.' But why not have fun until they do?"
Both Kudrow and Perry said in 2013 they wished the show could have kept going. (Photo by: David Bjerke/NBCU Photo Bank)
Perry went on to call it the "greatest job in the world."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In an interview ahead of the reunion, Perry told People, "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."
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The actor sadly passed away on Saturday, at the age of 54.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Law enforcement sources said Perry was found dead in a hot tub at a house in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles on Saturday. The authorities stated he appeared to have died due to drowning.