Matt LeBlanc and Courteney Cox have paid tribute to their late Friends co-star Matthew Perry, sharing their favourite moments with the actor.
On Tuesday, more than two weeks on from Perry’s death, LeBlanc posted a poignant message to his Instagram page saying goodbye to his friend. Alongside a selection of pictures showing the pair in their roles as Joey Tribbiani and Chandler Bing in the hit US sitcom, LeBlanc, 56, wrote: “Matthew. It is with a heavy heart I say goodbye.
“The times we had together are honestly among the favourite times of my life. It was an honour to share the stage with you and to call you my friend.
“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 also shared one of her favourite moments of her late co-star.
The actor, who played Monica Geller, who married Chandler Bing in the show, said she is “so grateful for every moment” she had alongside Perry. She wrote on Instagram beside a clip from the show: “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 favourites.
“To give a little backstory, Chandler and Monica were supposed to have a one-night fling in London. But because of the audience’s reaction, it became the beginning of their love story.
“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.”
Other cast members paid tribute after Perry’s death. Maggie Wheeler, who played Chandler’s on-and-off girlfriend Janice Hosenstein, said in an Instagram statement that she felt “blessed” to have spent creative moments with Perry.
The Simpsons voice actor Hank Azaria, who played David – a love interest of Phoebe, played by Kudrow, in several episodes of the show – said in a video posted to his social media that his “genius” friend Perry had helped to get him sober.
In 2022, Perry released his memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing in which he spoke candidly on dealing with an addiction to drugs and alcohol. The Matthew Perry Foundation was set up in the star’s memory after his death, promising to continue his commitment to “helping others struggling with the disease of addiction”.
Los Angeles police responded to a radio call just after 4pm on 28 October for a death investigation of a male in his 50s, the PA news agency understands. A statement from Capt Erik Scott of the Los Angeles fire department to PA said they had found a “male unconscious in a stand-alone Jacuzzi”.
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