Could the ending be any more sad?
One 12 months before Matthew Perry’s death, the actor opened up about saying goodbye to “Friends” after 10 years — and the way Jennifer Aniston was the one to initially bring up the thought.
“The reality was, we were all ready for ‘Friends’ to be done. For a start, Jennifer Aniston had decided that she didn’t need to do the show anymore, and as all of us made decisions as a gaggle, that meant all of us needed to stop,” the late star explained in his 2022 memoir, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.”
“Jennifer desired to do movies; I had been doing movies all that point and had ‘The Whole Ten Yards’ about to return out, which was sure to be successful,” he added. “… Regardless that it had been the best job on this planet, the stories of Monica, Chandler, Joey, Ross, Rachel, and Phoebe had all just about played out by 2004.”
Perry, Aniston and their co-stars — Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer — kicked off the beloved NBC sitcom in 1994. All fairly unknowns — minus Cox, who had been in just a few movies and danced with Bruce Springsteen within the “Dancing Within the Dark” music video — the show ultimately launched their careers.
“It was not lost on me that Chandler had grown up way faster than I had. Consequently, mostly by Jenny’s design, ten was a shortened season,” Perry went on in his book. “But all of the characters were mainly blissful at this point, too, and nobody wants to observe a bunch of blissful people doing blissful things — what’s funny about that?”
The “Friends” series finale, titled “The Last One,” aired on May 6, 2004. Before the ultimate filming, Perry pulled co-creator Marta Kauffman aside and asked if he may very well be the one to say the show’s last line.
“Nobody else will care about this except me,” he recalled saying. “So may I please have the last line?”
Perry’s wish was granted. Within the last scene, when Rachel asked where the gang should grab a cup of coffee — which naturally can be their go-to place Central Perk — Chandler simply deadpans, “Sure. Where?”
“I got to bring the curtain down on ‘Friends,’” the actor wrote. “I like the look on Schwimmer’s face as I deliver that line — it’s the proper mixture of affection and amusement, exactly what the show ‘Friends’ had all the time given to the world.”
After 237 episodes together, the forged would say their goodbyes on set, but continued to stay close through the years.
“Aniston was sobbing — after some time, I used to be amazed she had any water left in her entire body. Even Matt LeBlanc was crying,” Perry noted in his memoir.
“But I felt nothing; I couldn’t tell if that was due to the opiod buprenorphine I used to be taking, or if I used to be just generally dead inside,” he continued. “So, as an alternative of sobbing, I took a slow walk across the stage with my then-girlfriend — also appropriately called Rachel [Dunn] — stage 24 at Warner Bros. In Burbanks (a stage that after the show ended can be renamed ‘The Friends Stage.’) We said our various goodbyes, agreeing to see one another soon in the way in which that individuals do after they realize it’s not true, after which we headed out to my automotive.”
Perry struggled with drug and alcohol addiction for years, with the forged at one point confronting him on set amid the peak of their success. He had been sober leading as much as his death on Oct. 28 at age 54. He was found unresponsive and submerged in his hot tub at his California home, but his explanation for death continues to be “deferred.” Authorities don’t suspect foul play.
His former “Friends” co-stars reunited at his funeral in LA last Friday.
“We’re all so utterly devastated by the lack of Matthew. We were greater than just forged mates. We’re a family,” the forged’s joint statement examine his passing. “There may be a lot to say, but right away we’re going to take a moment to grieve and process this unfathomable loss.”
“In time we are going to say more, as and after we are able,” their statement continued. “For now, our thoughts and our love are with Matty’s family, his friends, and everybody who loved him world wide.”
