Anyone who has grieved knows that life will never go back to “normal” after losing someone you love—that, from now on, it will only ever be the “new normal.” Grief is a process, and it’s often permanent; this goes for family, friends, pets, anyone who is loved. Jennifer Aniston is, per Page Six, deeply grieving her friend Matthew Perry, who died at age 54 on October 28. The outlet reports that she is “struggling” after his unexpected death, and that the loss has “completely knocked her off her feet.”
Of his five Friends costars—all of whom Perry was close to—he has said Aniston was the most there for him during his 25-year battle with addiction. Perry’s five costars—Aniston, as well as Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer—were all there to lay Perry to rest at his funeral last Friday, held at Forest Lawn Cemetery in L.A., just minutes away from the Warner Bros. studio where they filmed Friends for 10 years. Page Six spoke to a source who said that “Out of the remaining five, Jen and Courteney are reeling the most, and Jen is probably the one who is struggling most acutely.”
One year ago, in November 2022, Aniston mourned the death of her father, John Aniston (of Days of Our Lives fame), who died at age 89. At the time of his passing, she called her father “one of the most beautiful humans I ever knew.”
Perry’s death is “a second massive loss in less than a year, with the one-year anniversary of her dad’s death just around the corner,” they said. “She still hasn’t fully regained her footing from that, and now this has just completely knocked her off her feet. She is trying to regroup and recover but it’s been a completely devastating blow.”
Aniston previously broke down in tears in a 2004 interview at the prospect of losing Perry, and of their friendship, “She was the one that reached out the most,” Perry said in an October 2022 interview with Diane Sawyer. “You know, I’m really grateful to her for that.” Perry also said that it was Aniston who initially confronted him on the Friends set when his addiction became evident to his costars.
Of her father’s death, Aniston opened up to The Wall Street Journal, revealing that “I feel closer to him now than I did almost when he was alive,” she said. “I feel like he’s everywhere. I really do.”
We hope the same goes for Perry. Sending our continued love to all.
