Heartbroken Matthew Perry fans pay tribute to his close friendship with Friends co-star Jennifer Aniston who showed him tough love and helped him through addiction anguish

• Perry and Aniston shared a close bond behind the scenes of the iconic sitcom, and they remained close until he died in a jacuzzi at his home on Saturday
• The 54-year-old actor had recently revealed that it was Aniston who ‘reached out the most’ on set about his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction
• Fans have flooded the internet with memes of their best moments in character as Chandler Bing and Rachel Green – along with candid clips of the actors  

Heartbroken Friends enthusiasts have flooded the internet with tributes to the enduring bond between Matthew Perry and co-star Jennifer Aniston following his untimely death this weekend. 

Fans have shared countless memes, clips and memories of the duo’s best moments in character as Chandler Bing and Rachel Green, along with candid clips of their infectious friendship behind the scenes. 

Perry will forever be linked to his role in the iconic sitcom, along with his five co-stars Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow.

But it was perhaps Aniston who was his best friend – as he recently revealed that she was the cast member who ‘reached out the most’ during his substance abuse addiction struggles, and they remained in close contact until his death. 

Perry was found dead in a jacuzzi at his home at the age of 54 on Saturday, following a rocky relationship with drugs and alcohol that he outlined in his memoir published just last year. 

Heartbroken Friends fans have flooded the internet with tributes to Matthew Perry ‘s close bond with co-star Jennifer Aniston following his untimely death at the weekend

Perry recently revealed that Aniston was the Friends cast member who ‘reached out the most’ during his addiction struggles, and they remained in close contact until his death 

Perry will forever be linked to his role in the iconic sitcom, along with his five co-stars Aniston, Matt LeBlanc , David Schwimmer , Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow  

Friends fans around the world have been devastated by the news of Perry’s passing – and many have paid tribute to his tangible bond with co-star Aniston 

His enduring bond with Aniston, 54, has been recognized by fans around the globe, as people flock to post videos of the duo online – including a touching recent clip of Perry speaking lovingly about the actress. 

‘She would walk in, and I’d be like “hey, good to see you”, and I’d go to my dressing room and be like – sigh – I’ll never be able to be with her,’ the Williamstown, Massachusetts native told an interviewer. 

Another clip shows a much younger Perry resting his arm on Aniston’s shoulder before she reaches over to kiss his wrist. 

‘Matthew Perry loved Jennifer Aniston so much, they were literally soul mates,’ one devastated fan said as they shared the footage, which has been viewed more than two million times. 

‘Truly breaks my heart that he’s actually gone, may he rest easily. Sending my prayers and thoughts to his family and friends’. 

Aniston has not yet said anything public about her friend’s death, but a previous interview of her crying over the prospect of losing Perry to his addiction has resurfaced. 

The sitcom’s main cast is said to be ‘working on a joint statement’ to release about their beloved colleague and friend. 

When asked previously by an ABC interviewer what Perry ‘doesn’t know’, a visibly distraught Aniston said: ‘That he’s alright’.   

‘We weren’t equipped to deal with it. Nobody had ever dealt with that, and the idea of losing him…’ she trailed off tearfully. 

One clip shows a much younger Perry resting his arm on Aniston’s shoulder before she reaches over to kiss his wrist

Perry revealed that it was Aniston who first confronted him about his addictions during the filming of their hit sitcom when his symptoms were too evident to ignore for those who were close to him. 

‘We know you’re drinking,’ she told him during a break in the shooting of Friends at the height of its popularity. 

‘Imagine how scary a moment that was,’ the actor said of his co-star during an interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer in October 2022.

‘I should have been the toast of the town, but I was in a dark room meeting with nothing but drug dealers and completely alone.’

‘She was the one that reached out the most,’ he added. ‘You know, I’m really grateful to her for that.’

Fans have also remembered the bond the two stars shared during happier times, including photographs of them giggling together on set in the nineties. 

Several pointed out how the Chandler/Rachel plotlines were less frequent than pairings of other characters – but the understanding of their off-screen friendship made these episodes ‘especially poignant’. 

Their storylines included The One With All The Cheesecakes, which first aired in January 2001 and follows the pair becoming hooked on a cheesecake meant for their neighbor which is accidentally delivered to Chandler’s door. 

Real life friends: Matthew Perry praised Jennifer Aniston for being a constant and reliable friend through all his ups and downs in life, including his struggles with drugs and alcohol; they are seen during Friends: The Reunion in May 2021

Lifeline: The actor revealed that part of his inspiration for writing his 2022 memoir  – Friends, Lovers, And The Big Terrible Thing – was the hope that his stories could serve as kind of lifeline for others like Aniston was for him

Friends for life: Perry would share his gratitude for all of his Friends castmates’ efforts to support him when he was struggling with drugs and alcohol: all six of the Friends stars are seen during the reunion show in May 2021

The comedic narrative shows the pair conspiring to steal more of their neighbor’s cheesecakes after they try the first one and become hooked – before the cake-stealing chaos escalates after they split one and Rachel drops her half. 

It ends with Joey Tribbiani, played by Matt LeBlanc, finding the pair eating the fallen cheesecake from the ground, and he grabs a fork from his pocket without questioning the situation and joins in.  

Dozens of people on X, formerly known as Twitter, dubbed it their ‘favorite’ of the 236 episodes, with one fan commenting: ‘I always wished Rachel and Chandler had more scenes one on one together. I loved their friendship.’

Others remembered the iconic scene showing Chandler and Rachel helping Ross Geller, played by David Schwimmer, move a sofa up a stairway to his New York apartment. 

Part of the episode called The One With The Cop, the trio struggle to maneuver the large two-seater up the multi-level stairwell as Ross shouts: ‘Pivot!!’ 

Fans shared outtakes from the scene showing all three struggling to stay in character and eventually breaking down into fits of laughter. 

When sharing about his substance abuse and the toll it began to take on his body, The Whole Nine Yards star confessed he was taking as many as 55 Vicodin pills a day, which contributed to his weight dropping to just 128 pounds.

‘I didn’t know how to stop,’ Perry admitted in an interview with People last year, before sharing an analogy that explains the power the drugs and alcohol had over him at the height of his TV career.

‘If the police came over to my house and said, “If you drink tonight, we’re going to take you to jail,” I’d start packing. I couldn’t stop because the disease and the addiction is progressive. So it gets worse and worse as you grow older,’ he explained.

Iconic: He rose to fame for his role as ‘Chandler Bing’ on the hit 90s sitcom, which ran for 10 seasons

Perry thought he has been managing to hide his drug and alcohol usage from his co-stars, but at a certain point they all knew he was in trouble and did their best to support him.

‘[They] were understanding, and they were patient,’ he recalled of the Friends cast. 

‘It’s like penguins. Penguins, in nature, when one is sick, or when one is very injured, the other penguins surround it and prop it up. They walk around it until that penguin can walk on its own. That’s kind of what the cast did for me.’

With the world still reeling in the wake of Perry’s passing, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office has said his cause of death is ‘deferred’ with the investigation considered ‘ongoing’ by authorities. 

Police sources told NBC News and CNN that they’d initially believed they were attending a possible ‘water rescue’ at the funnyman’s Pacific Palisades home after being called at 4:07pm PST Saturday.

They arrived to find the Perry dead of an apparent drowning in his hot tub, with the LA Times reporting that Perry was ‘unresponsive.’

The actor was not taken to hospital, with a coroner’s van later seen arriving at the property.

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