Jennifer Aniston broke down in an interview months after the death of Friends co-star Matthew Perry as she delved into the nostalgia of working on the beloved sitcom.
June 7, 2024, published at 3:30 PM ET
Perrys unexpected death at the age of 54 last October left fans and Friends stars heartbroken, even though the actor had opened up about how his decades-long battle with drug and alcohol addiction had ravaged his body.
On Thursday, Aniston, 55, sat down Quinta Brunson34, for the latest episode of Variety Actors on Actors series. This series features one-on-one conversations between stars who ask each other questions about their work.
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Like the Abbot Elementary creator and actress explained how she brought ABC's mockumentary sitcom to the small screen, Brunson told Aniston, “I just want you to know that I learned about the beauty of an ensemble from watching Friends.”
“Well, you just gave me goosebumps,” Aniston responded, adding, “That's why I think I like watching your show, because I feel the joy of watching an ensemble and I know how much fun there is with all of you happens, and you all really seem to have a really beautiful relationship and chemistry, it's just perfection.”
“Yeah, y'all too,” Brunson agreed, referencing the close bond between the six leads Friends: Aniston, Perry Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlancAnd David Schwimmer.
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Aniston broke down after being asked what it was like watching Friends almost 30 years after it first aired.
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When Aniston was asked how she feels about watching the sitcom now, almost thirty years after it first aired, the actress who played Rachel Green said Broken. “Oh God, don't make me cry,” she choked.
“Would you like a minute?” Brunson asked, to which Aniston replied, “No, I'm sorry, I just started thinking about…”
'I know, yes. Are you sure? You don't have to,” Brunson reassured a tearful Aniston, who replied, “No, I'm fine. They are happy tears.” After a long pause, Aniston dried her eyes and collected herself. She took a deep breath before continuing, “Okay. And we're back.'
“So, Jen, Friends turns 30,” Brunson said at the time, calling it “one of the best shows on television.”
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The pilot episode of Friends aired in September 1994.
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“It's so strange to think it's 30 years old because I remember the day it premiered,” Aniston explained, recalling spending that day, September 22, 1994, with Perry.
“Me and Matthew Perry were having lunch somewhere and we knew Lisa [Kudrow] was coloring her hair, so we ran to the salon,” she said, adding that “the excitement that we had – and it feels like yesterday – that day just feels… and so the fact that it has been so long Lasted, A wonderful life, and it still means a lot to people, is one of the greatest gifts that all five of us, all six of us, could ever have imagined, you know?”
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Aniston went on to explain that she was still in regular contact with Kudrow and Cox, adding, “It's a family forever.”
Weeks after he was found unconscious in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home, an autopsy revealed that Perry died from the “acute effects of ketamine”, listing “drowning, coronary artery disease and buprenorphine effects” as contributing factors.
Exactly a year before his death, Perry opened up about his bitter battle with drug and alcohol abuse in a tell all interview of Diane Sawyer. He revealed that at the height of his addiction he was taking as many as 55 pills a day and that his colon burst after years of heavy opioid use.
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Aniston broke her silence about Perry's death last November, when he wrote in an Instagram post, “Oh boy, this one cut deep… Saying goodbye to our Matty was an insane wave of emotions unlike anything I've ever experienced before.”
“We all experience loss at some point in our lives. Loss of life or loss of love. When you can really SIT in this grief, you can feel the moments of joy and gratitude for having loved someone so deeply.”
“And we loved him very much,” Aniston continued. “He was such a part of our DNA. There were always six of us. This was a chosen family that forever changed the course of who we were and what our path would be.
