Courteney Cox Says Late 'Friends' Co-Star Matthew Perry 'Visits Me a Lot'

Cox said that can still "sense Matthew's around, for sure."

By Michael Hein

Courteney Cox believes that the late Matthew Perry still "visits" her in some way. The actress joined CBS Sunday Morning this weekend, and she discussed the 20th anniversary of the Friends finale as well as Perry's passing. She said that she can still feel her former co-star's presence from time to time.

"You know, he's just so funny," she said. "He has a huge heart, obviously struggled. I'm so thankful I got to work so closely with him for so many years. He visits me a lot, if we believe in that." When asked to elaborate on her spirituality and view of such "visits," Cox went on: "You know, I talk to my mom, my dad, Matthew – I feel like there are a lot of people that, I think, guide us. I do sense, yeah, I sense Matthew's around for sure."

Cox and the other four stars of the Friends ensemble – Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer – are planning some way to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Friends finale in the wake of Perry's passing. A source told Us Weekly: "The prospect of having a reunion or a formal get-together without Matthew is bittersweet. There will be a huge void. [But] they know Matthew would've wanted them to carry on and celebrate the show. So that's very much on their minds as they move forward."

The series finale first aired on May 6, 2004, with a staggering 52.5 million viewers. On the anniversary, Cox posted a clip from the show along with a paragraph about Perry in the caption. She wrote: "I am so grateful for every moment I had with you Matty and I miss you every day. 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. 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."

Cox played Monica Geller while Perry played Chandler Bing for all of Friends' 10-year run on NBC. They were two out of six main characters and were often paired together for storylines even before their characters struck up a relationship. Monica and Chandler were next-door neighbors and close friends, and when they first hooked up at the end of Season 4, it wasn't clear that it would develop into an authentic romance. Over the next six seasons, their relationship was arguably more important to the series than the iconic will-they, won't-they of Ross and Rachel.

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Perry was found dead at his home in Los Angeles on Oct. 28, 2023, at the age of 54. He was in his hot tub, but his cause of death was attributed to several factors including drowning, coronary artery disease and "acute effects of ketamine and buprenorphine." Perry had struggled with addiction for years and had dedicated much of his life to advocacy for treatments. Before his death, he had been receiving ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, an increasingly popular procedure.

Friends is streaming now on Max, along with the 2021 reunion special which included Perry.

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