Lisa Kudrow is paying tribute to her late friend and co-star Matthew Perry two weeks after the Friends actor’s death at 54. Kudrow took to Instagram Wednesday to break her silence following Perry’s passing, sharing her memories of the start of the beloved sitcom’s 10-year run from 1994.
Posting a photo with Perry from the early days of Friends, Kudrow began, “Shot the pilot, Friends Like Us, got picked up then immediately, we were at the NBC Upfronts. Then… You suggested we play poker AND made it so much fun while we initially bonded. Thank you for that.” She continued, “Thank you for making me laugh so hard at something you said, that my muscles ached, and tears poured down my face EVERY DAY. Thank you for your open heart in a six way relationship that required compromise. And a lot of ‘talking.’”
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Referencing Perry’s addiction journey throughout the years, she added, “Thank you for showing up at work when you weren’t well and then, being completely brilliant. Thank you for the best 10 years a person gets to have. Thank you for trusting me.” Kudrow concluded, “Thank you for all I learned about GRACE and LOVE through knowing you. Thank you for the time I got to have with you, Matthew.”
Perry’s other Friends co-stars, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer, also shared their tributes to their late friend around the same time. “Oh boy this one has cut deep,” Aniston began in an Instagram post shared Wednesday. “Having to say goodbye to our Matty has been an insane wave of emotions that I’ve never experienced before. We all experience loss at some point in our lives. Loss of life or loss of love. Being able to really SIT in this grief allows you to feel the moments of joy and gratitude for having loved someone that deep.”
Aniston continued, “And we loved him deeply. He was such a part of our DNA. We were always the 6 of us. This was a chosen family that forever changed the course of who we were and what our path was going to be. For Matty, he KNEW he loved to make people laugh. As he said himself, if he didn’t hear the ‘laugh’ he thought he was going to die. His life literally depended on it. And boy did he succeed in doing just that. He made all of us laugh. And laugh hard.” She concluded her tribute, “Matty, I love you so much and I know you are now completely at peace and out of any pain. I talk to you every day… sometimes I can almost hear you saying ‘could you BE any crazier?’ Rest little brother. You always made my day…”
LeBlanc shared his tribute Tuesday, writing, “It is with a heavy heart I say goodbye. The times we had together are honestly among the favorite times of my life. It was an honor to share the stage with you and to call you my friend,” LeBlanc wrote. “I will always smile when I think of you and I’ll never forget you. Never. Spread your wings and fly brother you’re finally free. Much love. And I guess you’re keeping the 20 bucks you owe me.”
Cox remembered Perry as “funny” and “kind,” writing alongside one of her favorite moments filming with Perry, “I am so grateful for every moment I had with you Matty and I miss you every day.” Schwimmer, meanwhile, thanked Perry for “ten incredible years of laughter and creativity.” He wrote, “I will never forget your impeccable comic timing and delivery. You could take a straight line of dialogue and bend it to your will, resulting in something so entirely original and unexpectedly funny it still astonishes. And you had heart. Which you were generous with, and shared with us, so we could create a family out of six strangers.” He concluded, “I imagine you up there, somewhere, in the same white suit, hands in your pockets, looking around – ‘Could there BE any more clouds?’”
